Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana COTM November 2013 Cities Service

CITIES SERVICE COMPANY


Henry Latham Doherty formed the Cities Service Company on September 2, 1910. A New York based holding company, it derived income from dividends generated by stock held in subsidiary corporations. Cities Service was designed to concentrate on public utility companies, such as natural gas, electric, and transportation firms, but quickly became involved in the burgeoning petroleum and natural gas industry. The company developed large holdings in the Mid-Continent Region as early as 1912, when it acquired the assets of Theodore N. Barnsdall, who operated primarily in Oklahoma. Two years later Cities Service began extensive works in the Kansas oil fields. Those developments resulted in the formation of the Empire Gas and Fuel Company, which was headquartered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

By 1918 Cities Service companies operated seven oil refineries, five of which were in Oklahoma, and were active in nine Oklahoma oil fields. During the 1920s Cities Service located three of the five pools that comprised the Greater Seminole Oil Field, and one of the company's subsidiaries, the Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company, discovered the Oklahoma City Oil Field in 1928. Cities Service became a major American enterprise with operations across the nation and abroad. In 1940, however, federal courts ordered Cities Service to divest itself of either its public utility companies or its oil and gas firms, pursuant to the Public Utilities Holding Company Act of 1935. Because the oil and gas business was so lucrative, the company decided to separate from its more than two hundred public utility companies. The long and tedious divestiture process was completed in 1958, and the following year the Cities Service Oil Company, headquartered at Bartlesville, was formed to absorb all the oil companies owned by the original corporation.


In 1968 Cities Service moved its headquarters to Tulsa. It remained there until 1982, when it became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Occidental Petroleum Company. Occidental absorbed all the Cities Service divisions except for refining and marketing, which continued to operate under the name Citgo, with headquarters at Houston, Texas. Now under foreign ownership, Cities Service Company played a major role in the social and economic fabric of Oklahoma during most of the twentieth century, when it employed thousands and played a significant role in the state's oil and gas industry.


I got this information from the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Post them if you got them remember this thread only made possible by you the members.

A little ruff
Have yet to see another

I took these pictures in Dec. 1997 of this Jackson, Michigan station. Since then the station has been painted over & the paint is peeling.

Dave

All I got... But very happy! I bet Kevin is happy to know that Cities service is this month!

Some of the items i have had ,sold my Cities collection to Maurice Campbell several years ago.I think i had over 140 different Cities cans.

Steve that curb sign sure is a keeper. Love anything with ACME on it, reminds me of Wile E Coyote and his schemes to get the Road Runner it always seemed to involve an ACME company device!

I think Kevin should just showcase his collection and save everyone else the bother of posting - LOL!

Dave - Picture looks just like the Cities Service station we had in my small town back in the early 60's. Use to pick up my daily newspapers for my paper route at that one. Talk about nostalgia!

bought this 2 weeks ago my 2nd cities service item besides pint oil cans
not sure if i should leave it alone or paint it

My thoughts on these old carrying cans is that once you paint them the originality and character is gone. Clean it up and enjoy it in it's natural state.

I don't have much to offer with the cities brand . They were here in se mo I know and once I had a large sign but sold it as it was pretty rough. What few things I have found are just a few rough cans . I like cities brand but its hard to find as I was told some guy in North Dakota has it all !. Hopefully that guy will post us some pictures ! Lol.

Interesting Blue can , does it say Blue club motor oil?

Couple of rarer cities service pieces we have





Some other pieces

More

More