Welcome to the May installment of…< Company of the Month > !!!
Instead of a focus on one particular company, this month we will take a look at the “KEYSTONE” gasoline brand, the companies that marketed it and it’s sister lubricant brands.
(Our Keystone should not be confused with the Keystone Lubricating Company, from Philadelphia, PA that has the blue cans w/ the red/white Keystone logo.)
Disclaimer = When I volunteered to be a guest host for a COTM it did not really matter to me what “company” I covered since I’m not an informed expert or a dedicated collector of any of them. I own 16 Keystone items: 1 sign, 1 license plate, and 14 identical drinking glasses. So I guess that’s really 3 items. Some of the information I’ve obtained does not quite jive, but here it goes from the beginning….well we will skip the first few million years while oil is formed …. You can sleep through the history lesson if you want.
1859 ~ the Drake Oil Well was drilled. Ahhh Pennsylvania crude, rich in paraffin and waxes, low in sulfer and nitrogen. Named Pennsylvania crude because that’s where it was first extracted, but found and drilled throughout the Appalachia basin in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
“Pennsylvania was responsible for 1/2 of the WORLD'S production of oil until the East Texas oil boom of 1901”
At the start of the 20th century America was well into the machine age, and industry was booming across the United States. The operation of Industrial machines was dependent on quality lubricants, and they were sometimes hard to come by.
1902 ~ The UNITED REFINING COMPAY was formed in Warren, PA by a group of local businessmen. They decided that the best way to insure an uninterrupted supply for their factories would be to produce their own lubricants, so with 20 employees they became one of nine refineries in the Warren area.
This was their office in 1902
1903 ~ The first world series was played. A couple brothers named Wright made their first successful flight…….And the first Warren County PA driver’s license was issued.
1905 ~ Einstein proposes his “Theory of Relativity” & Oil is discovered in Warren along the Allegheny River. A boom ensued….for two months. The shallow wells were quickly sucked dry. If United was to grow it would have to expand it’s lubricant refining capabilities, along with solving transportation, supply and marketing issues.
1908 ~ Henry Ford introduces the Model T.
1911 ~ Standard Oil is broken up.
1912 ~ United Refining participates in the construction of a pipeline connecting Warren with the crude producing areas of West Virginia to ensure an adequate supply, this group becomes the West Virginia Pipeline Company.
1913 ~ Henry Ford creates the assembly line, and we are headed towards “a motor car for the great multitude”
1915 ~ Electricity now lights the streets and homes of Warren, PA
MORE TO COME SOON, THIS HAS TO LAST A MONTH YOU KNOW!!
