Standard Oil of Ohio
Company type | Public (1911–1987) |
---|---|
Industry | Petroleum |
Founded | 1911 |
Defunct | 1987[2] |
Fate | Acquired by BP |
Successor | BP America Inc. |
Headquarters | |
Products | Gasoline, motor oils |
Brands |
The Standard Oil Company of Ohio was an American oil company, a successor of the original company established in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller.[4][2] It was established as "Standard Oil Company of Ohio" as one of the separate entities created after the 1911 breakup.
In the 1960s, Standard Oil of Ohio partnered with
History
Under the name "Standard Oil of Ohio", the company was established as a separate business after the
In 1968, Sohio's
By 1991, BP had rebranded all Sohio and Boron retail stations as 'BP',[7][8][9] except for some marine fuel outlets.[citation needed]
In 2011, a BP station in Steubenville, Ohio that had originally opened as a Sohio station in 1946 ended fuel sales and was restored to 1970s vintage Sohio colors as a museum for Sohio. The site has vintage (non-working) Sohio pumps and other Sohio memorabilia. The garage itself remains active.[10]
Stations
By 1980, Sohio and Boron had 3,400 gas stations in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia.[citation needed] Sohio acquired 5,660 former Gulf stations as a result of FTC anti-trust limitations in Chevron's 1985 takeover of Gulf. These stations, bought for $1 billion, were in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.[11][12] Sohio was allowed to use the "Gulf" name for five years after the acquisition.[citation needed]
By the end of 1985, all other Standard Oil descendants had minimized use of the name Standard, following Standard Oil of Indiana renaming itself Amoco earlier in the year as well as Chevron's aforementioned merger with Gulf that same year that led to its official corporate name to change from Standard Oil of California to Chevron Corporation. As a result, Standard of Ohio corporately rebrand itself in 1986 under the Standard name, while continuing to use the Sohio brand in Ohio.[13][1] In 1987, BP bought the 45% of Sohio it did not already own for $7.82 Billion and assumed control.[14] Among the first changes was the rebranding of all Sohio, Boron, & Gulf stations that it owned to 'BP' in 1991.[9] Among the conversions included former Mobil stations in Western Pennsylvania (including Pittsburgh) that Standard of Ohio acquired in 1987 when Mobil left that market, most of which had just rebranded as Boron when they were converted to BP.[15] From 1989 to 1991, many Sohio, Boron and Gulf stations used BP's color scheme of green and yellow during the transitional rebranding to BP.[16]
The Boron name was used outside of Ohio in neighboring states, like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia. Boron was also the branding of its premium grade gasoline along with its regular grade fuel "Extron" (formerly "Ex-tane" later "Octron") and its unleaded version "Cetron" introduced in 1970.[citation needed]
Standard Oil of Ohio's motor oil brands included Boron, Sohio, Cetron, CHD, Duron, Multron, Nitrex, Nitron, Octron, Premex, and Qvo.
Sohio's
When BP merged with Amoco in 1998, its American headquarters moved from the former
Subsidiaries
Hospitality Motor Inns
Hospitality Motor Inns, a wholly owned Sohio subsidiary, operated 11 motor inns in Ohio and surrounding states[19] The company was formed in 1963 as a Sohio subsidiary. Hospitality became a publicly held company when Sohio sold off 51% of the company to the public. Sohio sold its remaining interest of the chain to Hosmin, Inc., in 1978.[20]
ProCare
In the 1980s, as many gas stations began converting their vehicle service bays into
BP retained ProCare following its absorption of Sohio, rebranding it as "BP ProCare" and changing the colors in its logo to match BP. BP continued to operate it until selling off the chain to a private investment group in 1999, at which point the shops were simply called ProCare without an oil company prefix and its logo was reverted to its Sohio-era colors.[22] Following a bankruptcy under the private investment group's ownership, ProCare would ultimately be acquired by Monro Muffler Brake in 2006, and converted the locations to its own brands.[23]
Leadership
Chairman of the Board | President |
---|---|
W. Trevor Holliday, 1949–1950 |
W. Trevor Holliday, 1928–1949 |
Gallery
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Sohio service station in Cleveland, Ohio (ca. 1936)
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Sohio canopy circa 1989. Sohio's final prototype canopy. Also used as the canopies for Boron and Gulf Gasoline stations until the stations were rebranded as BP.
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Sohio sign circa 1989. Sohio's logo. A similar logo was also used at Boron stations outside the state of Ohio.
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Sohio Boron gasoline station (1972). Sohio marketed gasoline under various brand names in other states, including Boron, BP, Gas & Go, Gulf, Gibbs and William Penn.
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Vintage Sohio pump in storage at Cuyahoga Valley National Park near Richfield, Ohio.
References
- ^ New York Times. February 25, 1986.
- ^ a b c "Standard Oil Co". Ohio History Central.
- ^ a b c Lyin, Dan D. (12 February 2021), "Sohio History", Dantiques.com (blog)
- ^ "The Standard Oil Company; Ohio Charter No. 3675". Ohio Secretary of State. 1870-01-10. Archived from the original on 2021-06-06.
- ProQuest 156209799.
- Washington Post.
- ^ Caldwell, Dave (2012-12-29). 5 1989 Peg BP News. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. Retrieved 2018-11-28 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Sohio name being replaced by BP after 63 years". United Press International. April 25, 1991.
- ^ a b "Historic Sohio name soon to be just a memory". United Press International. April 12, 1991.
- ^ "Sohio in Steubenville".
- New York Times. September 28, 1984.
- Washington Post.
- ^ "Sohio Returns To Old Corporate Name". Associated Press. February 25, 1986.
- New York Times.
- Toledo Blade. December 30, 1987. p. 18 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ "5 1989 Peg BP News". YouTube.
- ^ "The History of Gasoline Retailing", National Association of Convenience Stores, February 2, 2011, archived from the original on 2011-03-24
- ^ Zajac, Andrew (August 16, 1998). "In Cleveland, Few Gasps at BP's Leaving". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ Gallaher, Mary Jane (October 1971). "A Career in Hospitality" (PDF). The Sohioan. Vol. 43, no. 5. The Standard Oil Company. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-04 – via dantiques.com (blog).
- ^ Campbell v. Hospitality Motor Inns, Inc., 493 N.E.2d 239 (Ohio 1986).
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Bp Amoco Sheds Procare in Sale to Investor Group". 31 May 2005.
- ^ "Monro Muffler Brake to Acquire Assets of ProCare Automotive Service Solutions Out of Bankruptcy". 6 March 2006.