Republic Oil was the company that Michael Benedum and Joseph Trees started after they had built up Transcontinental Oil (Marathon before Ohio Oil bought them) and lost control. The company was based in Pittsburgh and I believe was founded in 1923. They used the Republic brand on stations thinly from Pennsylvania south thru Florida and also in Texas, and also operated "Hi-Way" as a secondary brand. Republic Oil was reorganized as Plymouth Oil in the 1950s and that company sold out to Marathon in 1962. It was operated as an independent subsidiary in the 1960s, possibly the 1970s, and Marathon's wholesale operation in the south today is based around the old Republic terminal network. The last branded Republic station I remember seeing with signage was outside Sylva, NC about 1988, although I believe it was being supplied by a renegade jobber that was using the brand without full authorization (leftover from when the brand was supported, and they just did not take the signs down.) A former Republic jobber in Greenville, NC, actually a customer of mine, operated unbranded stations as late as the early 2000s, and some of them had leftover Republic minor signage (pump decals and such) as well. Old gas brands never really die...
Wayne Henderson
PCM Publishing
Kernersville, NC
