1911: The Standard Oil Trust is broken up. Among the company assets that are divided up is the right to use the well-known 'Standard' brand name.
Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony)
was awarded Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode
Island, Connecticut, and New York
Atlantic
Refining (Atlantic) was awarded Pennsylvania and Delaware
Standard
Oil of New Jersey (Jersey Standard) was awarded New Jersey,
Maryland, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and
South Carolina
Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio) was awarded Ohio
Standard Oil of Kentucky (Kyso) was awarded Kentucky,
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi
Standard
Oil of Indiana was awarded Indiana, Michigan, Illinois,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas
and northern Missouri
Standard Oil Company of Louisiana (Stanacola) was awarded
eastern Louisana (New Orleans and vicinity) and Tennessee
Waters-Pierce was awarded southern Missouri, western
Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas
Standard Oil of Nebraska was awarded Nebraska
Continental Oil
Company (Conoco) was awarded Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah,
Colorado, and New Mexico
Standard
Oil of California (Socal) was awarded Washington, Oregon,
Arizona, California and apparently the territories of Alaska and
Hawaii
Other Companies that
made up the Standard Oil Trust included The Ohio Oil Company
(now Marathon) and Vacuum Oil Company
1941: After some consolidation among the "Baby Standards", the Standard brand name was in use in across the nation.
Standard Oil Company
of New York merged with Vacuum Oil Company in 1931, becoming Socony-Vacuum.
The primary gasoline sold by the company was Mobilgas. The Socony
name was kept in the northeast, and Vacuum / Mobilgas in other
markets. The company logo was Vacuum's red winged horse. The
company expanded into the west and midwest by acquiring smaller
oil marketers like Magnolia and General Petroleum.
Atlantic Refining
declined to exercise its exclusive rights to Standard in
Pennsylvania and Delaware, marketing itself as Atlantic in
all its markets. Jersey Standard acquired the rights to
Pennsylvania and Delaware, and marketed Esso products there
through a wholly-owned "Standard of Pennsylvania".
Standard Oil of New Jersey 
became known as Jersey Standard, and
marketed their main grade of gas as Esso. Not long after
that, Esso became the downstream identity of Jersey Standard.
Jersey Standard acquired Stanacola not too long after the
Standard Oil breakup. Jersey Standard also managed to acquire
Arkansas and the rest of Louisiana from Waters-Pierce or its
purchaser, Sinclair Oil. The Esso brand moved into Socony home
territory by purchasing Colonial Beacon Oil Company, then changed
the station's identity to 'Esso' without protest from Socony.
Humble Oil of Texas was purchased and used as an extraterritorial
marketing arm. Esso was used as the brand name of the company
since the 1930's, with "Standard" above it on the sign
out front. A second common corporate symbol emerged in the early
days of Esso, the Tiger that is still used in modern times by
Esso and Exxon.
Standard Oil of Ohio
(Sohio) did not change. Sohio was on the signs, Standard
Oil on the buildings.
Standard Oil of Kentucky (Kyso) did not change. 
The signs out front read "Standard
Oil Products"
Standard Oil
of Indiana expanded, acquiring the rights to southern
Missouri and Oklahoma from Waters-Pierce or its purchaser,
Sinclair Oil. Indiana Standard 
also acquired the rights to Montana,
Wyoming, and Colorado from Conoco. There was a strong alliance
with Nebraska Standard. 
Indiana Standard also purchased the
American Oil Company (Amoco), Pan-Am Petroleum and Utah Oil
Refining (Vico - Pep 88) as extraterritorial marketing arms. The
torch was chosen as an early symbol of the company, and the signs
out front read "Standard Service".
Standard Oil Company of Louisiana (Stanacola) was acquired
by Jersey Standard (Esso)
Waters-Pierce was
acquired by Sinclair Oil, and the rights to use Standard
in its territories were acquired by Indiana Standard, Esso, and
Socal.
Standard Oil of Nebraska 
was strongly
allied to Indiana Standard, which surrounded it. It still
retained a unique identity and logo.
Continental Oil Company (Conoco) declined to
excercise its rights to "Standard", deciding to
continue marketing itself as Conoco. Socal and Indiana Standard
acquired the rights to 'Standard' in Conoco territory
Standard
Oil of California (Socal) expanded, acquiring the rights to
Idaho, Utah, and New Mexico from Conoco. Socal acquired the 'Standard'
rights in Texas from Waters-Pierce or its purchaser, Sinclair Oil.
Idaho and Utah were added to the California Standard territory,
New Mexico and Texas were joined to become the wholly-owned
subsidiary, "Standard Oil of Texas." Chevron was used
as a logo and by Socal and an identifiying name by its
extraterritorial arm, Calso (The California Company)
The Ohio Oil Company has used the name Marathon for downstream marketing purposes since the 1930's.
1961: America was on the move, and national television brodacasting made nation-spanning logo identity more important. Increasing effort was placed on market expansion as the Standards grew, along with the new Interstate System.
Socony-Vacuum eventually
dropped its use of Socony in marketing, and concentrated on a
name it could market across the USA, Mobilgas. The company came Mobil
in 1966.
Jersey
Standard (Esso) was stifled in its efforts to expand
its market share by its famous name. Sohio and SOCal - controlled
Kyso defended their 'Standard' franchises viciously, forcing the
Esso name off new stations placed in their service area. The
company invented the 'Enco' name to allow marketing in
other Standard states. Sohio thought Enco was even too close to
Esso, and forced Jersey Standard to use their Texas based Humble
name in the Buckeye state. Humble became the holding company
name for all downstream operations of Jersey Standard.
Standard
Oil of Ohio (Sohio) expanded to neighboring states
under the extraterritorial name of 'Boron', one of its grades of
gasoline.
Standard Oil of Kentucky (Kyso) 
was acquired by Standard Oil of
California in 1960.
Standard Oil of
Indiana
absorbed Nebraska Standard. Indiana Standard decided on a common
logo in 1946, an oval shape from subsidiary Amoco, and the torch
from Indiana Standard. All stations were to use the new logo
style, with different text for each unit. Amoco became American,
Pan-Am Petroleum became Pan-Am. Utah Oil Refining became 
Utoco, and Indiana Standard simply
Standard. As time went on, the company retired the Pan Am and
Utoco names, leaving Standard in the midwest, and American as the
sole extraterritorial marketing arm. Between Standard and
American in the Torch-and-Oval, Indiana Standard expanded its
operations to the 48 contiguous US states. The energy crisis of
the 1970's forced Indiana Standard to pull back from many states
where it had only a marginal presence.
Standard Oil of Nebraska was absorbed by Indiana Standard.
Standard Oil of California (Socal) expanded, acquiring
Standard Oil of Kentucky in 1960. The 'Standard' name was
maintained in the new territory as well as the old, with the
addition of a Chevron-type logo in the former Kyso.
Atlantic merged with
Richfield Oil in 1966, creating Atlantic Richfield Company,
commonly known as Arco. 
Arco purchased Sinclair Oil in 1969 and
aborbed it.
Ohio Oil Company officially changed its name to Marathon
Oil in 1962.
1999: Global competion in the petroleum industry alows for more consolidation in the former Standards.
Mobil (ex- Socony - Vacuum) merged
with Exxon, the former Jersey Standard / Esso, in 1999.
Esso / Jersey Standard was not happy not being able
to market as Esso. Humble did not have the right zip to it either.
Enco sounded bad in Japanese. ("Stalled Car" is the
nicer tranliteration I have heard.) The company brainstormed,
looking for a new name close to Esso, but with no current meaning
in other languages. They came up with Exxon. 
Starting in 1972, Jersey Standard changed
its name to Exxon, and rebranded their US stations to this new
corporate identity. Esso is still used by the company outside of
the United States, but the Standard name was officially gone from
the US operations of the former holding company of the Standard
Oil Trust. Exxon merged with Mobil, the former Socony, in 1999.
The resulting company is called ExxonMobil. No word yet on which logo will be the
company's mascot, the Tiger or the Pegasus. The company website
has information on both. Exxon / Esso has a long-standing
commitment to the Tiger, and seems to be the leader in the merger.
Mobil's Pegasus logo has a history goes back to the pre-1911
Standard Oil Trust days as a corporate symbol.
Standard Oil of Ohio
(Sohio) was purchased by British Petroleum (BP) in
1987. The BP logo went up on Sohio stations, and BP spread across
the USA. Standard Oil disappeared in Ohio. In the southeastern US,
BP acquired many former Gulf Oil stations from Chevron, who
already had adaquate market penetration in that area. In 1998, BP
purchased another former Standard, Amoco.
Standard Oil of Indiana 
decided to make 'Amoco' its
national brand and corporate identity in 1971, and started
changing its stations to the new name. The corporation left a few,
or permitted a few to remain, branded 'Standard' to ensure no one
else would claim the name. BP merged with Amoco in 1998, becoming
BPAmoco. 1999: Plans are to convert all assets of
both companies in the USA to the Amoco brand name, and BPAmoco
assets in the rest of the world, including former Amoco assets,
will be BP. UPDATE March 16, 2000: The current
plan: Drop the Amoco name, the "Torch and Oval" logo,
and any claim to 'Standard'. It will all be BP, sadly.
Standard Oil of California 
(Socal) decided to make 'Chevron' its national brand and corporate
identity in 1984, and started changing its stations to the new
name. The corporation leaves a station in every state branded 'Standard'
to ensure no one else will claim the Standard brand name (Including
Esso). Chevron expanded in the northeast and southeast by
purchasing Gulf Oil in 1984.
Arco has been mentioned as a possible merger
target by BPAmoco. In 1982, Arco spunoff its eastern former
Atlantic territory into a new 'Atlantic'. This new Atlantic ended
up purchased by Sunoco.
Conoco 
is still in operation after being purchasd by DuPont
in 1981 then partially spun back off in 1999. DuPont still
controls almost 70% of the company. They have also adopted a new
mascot, the 'fast cat.' - a house cat.
Marathon is still in operation. US Steel purchased
Marathon in 1982, and separated Marathon's stock from its own in
1992. Marathon has been in a joint venture with Ashland Oil for
downstream operations since 1998 (MAPLLP). Marathon-Ashland
controls SuperAmerica, Speedway, Starvin' Marvin and Bonded
stations as well as the company flagships, Ashland and Marathon.
The current incarnation of Sinclair
Oil is related to the
one that bought Waters-Pierce. It is made up largely of former
Sinclair assets spun off from Arco. They kept the dinosaur logo
of the old company and list Sinclair's pre-Arco history on their
website. It is part of the same Arco divestiture that briefly
brought back Atlantic.
Credits:
Invaluable data (i.e. just about everything) provided by Mark Bozanich, Mark J. Cuccia, and various oil company websites linked
above.
Many corporate logos adapted from John Cirillo's Gas Signs page.
Also thanks to Jon Enslin, Bruce B. Reynolds and Mark Potter,
whoes knowledge and experience added to and improved the
information above.
U.S. Highways: From US 1 to (US
830) Host site of
this webpage and many others.
If you any have thoughts, comments, additions, or suggestions, Click here to E-mail Robert V. Droz, who maintains this site.
This page posted February 8, 2000 by RVD.
This page last edited Tuesday, March 28, 2000 11:01:00 AM Eastern Standard Time