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

Cities Service Lease Sign

Looking good so far let's keep it going

Wow, lots of great stuff!!!!

Some of mine:

More:

More:

More:

Amazing collection!

Dang Rob!! That is awesome!! I love all the globes!! Everything is killer!

and a few more. Still looking for space to display some of this stuff. I think I have maxed out what the wife will allow in the house!

And another flange sign and framed poster I have. All my cans and other smalls are still boxed up in the basement. No idea when those will see the light of day, but hopefully sometime soon!

tremendous... im envious

Could have sworn you were single when I saw them on the kitchen cabinets!!

My wife would kill me.

Nice stuff. Very nice

Hahaha! I understand about the kitchen cabinets. I remember the conversation well when I convinced my wife that it was just dead space above those cabinets, and a couple of tastefully displayed gas and oil items would look good. She bought it, and they have been up there ever since. Slowly propagating through different rooms in the house, all on her terms now. It's all good!

very nice display of Cities Service memorabilia..

Very nice now we know where all the good cities service stuff is going its between you and Kevin lol

LOL! Probably a lot more Kevin than me, but I have been fortunate to find some nice stuff over the years. Getting a lot tougher these days......

Wonderful collection you have sandman , I really like that red koolmotor sign with the old car and truck awesome!

Hi, here's some of my globes, having problems posting and getting some good photo's, too much stuff. Ted

more, having problems with clovers, will try later

Here is the little bit of Cities I have.

TC that yellow cs globe is one of my favorites thanks for posting.

that yellow globe is killer..

TC, those are awesome globes!! Very nice. That yellow one is very very rare.

Who said Cities Service RULES ? Awesome display and such great quality.Hat's off to you.

my pump

Very, very nice but shouldn't that pump be inside the house? I am sure a few members would put that in their kitchen as seen in previous collections.

i asked the mrs. once if I could put a pump in the house. her response contained words that would make a truck driver blush.

W/ a wife like that, I'm surprised the Studey is parked in the Garage!

Not much, Kevin has it all.

these 2 bases and a lubester sign that has been shown.

Awesome stuff everyone...

I don't have a collection that's going to 'wow' anyone, so I am going to step away from the traditional collection photos, and instead share some of the Cities stuff that I found in my grandfather's basement:

He worked for Cities Service, more specifically the distribution center in Pekin, IL. When most think of Cities Service, you think service station, but that was only a small part of the overall operations.

Aerial photo of the Pekin, IL facility & grounds:



Article about the Pekin facility in the 'Empire' Newsletter that was printed for Cities Service employees in the 50s.





Photos that my grandfather took after a tanker caught on fire at the terminal



Sales ledger and retirement plan booklet:

Here are some other items out of the employee newsletter 'Empire' from the same issue as above:

WOW, you guy s have some great stuff!That globe collection is something else.

Great pics. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for hosting another great COTM, Shawn! Lots of great stuff has been shown so far, love the globes the most!

Here are some Cities Service quarts that we have in our collection.

Thanks

Lonnie & Aaron Hop

Thanks to all of you that have posted COTM is only good as long as members are posting. Aaron I had no idea CS had so many oil cans

some of my collection...






Grandfather's coveralls & hard hat (unfortunately only part of the decal remaining)

Any info on " The Blue Club " motor oil?
Time period ? Was it an economy brand?
Thanks

Five Gallon Milwaukee i fixed up over 10 years ago ,after all this time i moved it home from a buddies shop so i can enjoy it.I treid to buy this from a farmer for years. One day he said a cousin that was an antique dealer was coming to give him an offer. I said i would double his offer. It was a gamble ,i was nervous. He said it was just another common gas pump and offered him $200

Blue Club was the cheap non-detergent oil. If you had an old oil burner car etc this was what to use in it. Sold mostly in 2 gallon cans. Lots of guys used it for hydraulic fluid in their machinery. I delivered it mostly to farmers and truckers in 2 gallon can by the case before a good grade of hydraulic fluid came out. That was in the 60s and it was on the market in 70s yet. Don't know when it first appeared,20s/30s I'm thinking or before. A good multi grade oil wasn't on the market until the 60s that was a detergent oil. I have a CS collection and have found only 1 qt Blue Club can in 30yrs.

Thanks--Blue Club for blue smoke!

Does Kevin know of this thread? I was figuring this thread would be 8 pages long with his collection!

He`s holding out on us. It`s sorta like saving the best for last.

He's letting us have a chance at showing a few items before he crashes the system with all his goodies.

Not exciting , but it's all I have. 5 gallon cans

I've actually been trying to get decent pictures of everything! I have a working shop/display area and its a bit of a mess right now, as I'm trying to get a few pumps cleaned up before winter. I do have most of the pictures taken now, but I have a couple items left and then I have to put them on the computer and sort thru them. I will have it for you, but its taking me longer than I thought it would!

Yes , Kevin you need to get busy and get us our pictures . I keep thinking you must have a secret vault in your shop basement full of cities treasures you will reveal at the end . Kind of like a grand finale .

a grand finale it will be... we all wait in much anticipation

I can't wait to see Kevin's museum!!

A group of Cities Service sign pole thermometers.


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I can't wait to see Kevin's museum!!



Believe me when I say it is NICE!!!

anybody of interest: VINTAGE CITIES SERVICE BLUE CLUB MOTOR OIL 2 GALLON OLD METAL TIN CAN 1940s ..

ebay # 121209539774 buy it now 65. or offer

That is one good looking oil can randy.

not my can, but the blue club might be of some interest to the cities service collectors..

Just bought these two from Kevin. My alma mater and my nephew's is the Trojans with school colors green and white. This will be my nephews first can.

OK--I'm finally ready! Man, what a job doing all the photos and then categorizing them! I'm sure I have a few hours into the process!
First let ne say that my collection isn't as big a deal as some make it out to be and I hope the photos don't disappoint anyone.
I've been at this for about 8 years and its been the most enjoyable time of my entire life! The knowledge I've gained and the friends I've made are a tremendous addition to my life.
I have tried to accumulate as nice of pieces as were available to me and I'll keep right on going until my health tells me to quit, so here's what I've gathered to date.
Please don't throw comments in until I have finished, as I'm sure this will take a while to post all of these pictures(over 100). You will know when I'm done because I will announce the last picture!
Enjoy the pictures, and a big "THANK YOU" to all that have helped me along the way! There are a lot of you!

First--Why Cities Service? When I first started collecting, the first pump that I ever found was a Cities Service pump, and there had been a Cities Service station here in Devils Lake at one time.
I knew I needed to pick a brand, so that was the reason. Here is that first pump, a Wayne 60, and all the rest of the Cities branded pumps that I have.

The Tokheim 36B is a porcelain pump, as is the Erie 753, and the Smith. The two Bennetts were just picked up and were the original pumps used in Bisbee, North Dakota.

On to the globes. These have been fairly difficult to find in really nice condition, and I probably should have listened to some early advice to get the different globes and upgrade later!
Cities Service had a lot of different globes and I have a long way to go!!

A few more! The Benzol is the only one known and has a cracked lens, but its better than nothing!

I picked up a couple items along the way that I wanted to use to identify my little operation and I had some glass made for them, so these4 items are fantasy pieces made for Devils Lake Oil Company Collectibles!

I'm not really a can collector, but I knew I would need some Cities Service cans to display in my collection, and there are so many that I decided to go with the earliest ones that I could find! I have a tough time passing up an early Cities Service can. LOL
The 3 can racks are NOS items from here in Devils Lake!

A few More.

More Cities Cans!

Even more Cities cans!

Heres the last of my Cities Service cans! I was actually able to find a very rare Cities Service sprayer to go along with the very rare Dairy cattle spray can!

On to the last of my Cities Service passions! THE SIGNS!
I have both common and some ultra rare, so I hope there is something new for everyone in this section!

The green Cities Service Ahead is a rare double sided example and is a NOS sign that came from here in Devils Lake. The one with the black accents on the sign, came from the Cities Service station in Langdon, North Dakota! First one I've ever seen with the black accents!
The Koolmotor kite sign is the best example of this sign that I have been able to buy so far! I'm still looking for that "perfect" one!

More Cities Service signs! The first 2 are 10 inch pump plates with license plate toppers from Abrahamson Service stations(Shorewood & Milwaukee). The other 3 are all lubester signs, for on top the pump and on the tank itself!

The first picture is 2 more ten inch pump plates along side a very nice original Cities Service Pam clock.
The clover shaped sign is a 15 inch truck door sign that is NOS, and the round one is another example of a truck door sign in the round version. A good 9+ sign!

The first sign is a 21 inch, the second is a rare 32 inch and the third is a 36 incher! All very nice examples of their various sizes.

The round "KOOLMOTOR" signs are both 24 inchers and the second one has differernt wording on each side, so the second and third pictures are of the same sign.
The Koolmotor clover shaped sign is actually a curb sign and I have all the pieces but haven't finished putting it together yet.

I just finished hanging the 48 inch clover and its hanging from a green porcelain coated sign pole I found a couple years back. The sign itself is an NOS example that I picked up at the Columbia swap meet.
The round sign is an NOS 42 incher in the original hanging ring that I bought from Koolmotor George when he was dispersing his collection.
The flange is a very early tin flange sign that was still spelling the word GASOLENE.
The Crew-Levick and KOOLMOTOR are both porcelain strip signs.

More Cities Signs with the third one a die cut porcelain sign that shows the connection with Louisiana Oil Refining Corp.--LORECO

Here are 3 Cities flange signs with the first one being an unbent flange that came from the AM sign company warehouse.
The flat sign is a single sign with different wording on each side.

Heres a nice example of a Cities Service curb sign with the changeable price numbers.
Also some examples of the connection to the "ACME" brand name with Acme batteries and Acme tires!
The 2 porcelain strip signs advertise the Cities Service name and are about 8 feet long.

Here are several examples of oil lease signs and signs related to the oil and gas pipelines operated by Cities Service.