COTM November 2007--Pure - Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk

(Thanks for the banner, DOC!)
Here comes my try at the COTM. I'm light on petroliana, but heavy on history.

I became interested in Pure in the mid-1970s, when I took my freshman English class in the old Pure research building. This was the first campus of McHenry County College. Before the Union takeover, there had also been a small gas station on the grounds, on U.S. 14 in Crystal Lake, Illinois, which was the first station to get makeovers accounding to the whims of the powers that be.
So, I probably have seen every Pure station style there ever was, when I include the tiny cottage stations in northern Wisconsin. I had hoped to get up there last month to take pictures of what remains, but was unable to do so. I'm sure the rest can be filled in by you!

[This message has been edited by Maps for the memories (edited 11-01-2007).]

1891�Producers Oil Co., Ltd. Founded from the Eastern Producers Protective Association.
1895�Producers renamed to the Pure Oil Company
1917�Ohio Cities Gas Co., controlled by the Dawes family, purchases the Pure Oil Company. A chain of gas stations is merged with the Dawes� six gas stations. Moore Oil of Cincinnati is soon purchased.
1920�Directors vote to rename the conglomerate �The Pure Oil Company.� I�ll refer to it as Pure from now on.
Purfina Cooperative Co. formed to handle overseas business. HQ in Antwerp.
1921�Pure Oil Company of South Dakota, retailers of gasoline since 1908, is purchased and merged into Pure.
Pure Oil Company of Minnesota merged into parent Pure Oil.
Mexia oil field discovered by Col. Albert Humphreys.
1922�Ardmore, OK refinery overhauled.
1924�Purchase of Oklahoma Producing and Refining Corporation completed. Humphreys Oil purchase completed. Natural gas interests sold to Columbia Gas & Electric.
1925�Architect Carl A. Petersen leaves Gulf Oil to head the Design and Construction Dept. of Pure Oil, ushering in the era of the cottage-style station.

Great job so far, Judy!

I've got a question. What is the significance of the red arrow through the Pure logo? I've seen similar red arrows, always diagonal, piercing the Deep Rock, Sunoco, and Diamond logos. There has to be a meaning or reason behind it...

Thanks,
Wes

The world's best known Pure station owner?

[This message has been edited by Maps for the memories (edited 11-01-2007).]

good question wes... my guess... " hits the mark".. kinda' like.. this is it... advertising ploy..

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Wes,
I'd thought it was a late 50s, early 60s thing until I saw Diamond and early D-X signs with them.
I remember hearing why the Sunoco arrows were changed from horizontal to diagonal, but the reason escapes me.
The E. Dundee, IL Pure station had a rotating sign with a stationary arrow. Too cool!

Shot with HP pstc3100 at 2007-11-02

When I think of Pure Oil I think of truck stops, but Hi-Speed (Hickock) is credited with the 1st truck stop. But Pure owned 51% Hi-Speed since the late 1920's and bought them out in 1951. This above picture is of the location of what is said to be the first truck stop at Imlay City, MI. from 1957. Note the Hi-Speed column.

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Same location 1958

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Same location 1967

Pure put out a "Puretruck Station Directory" that pictured most locations and there services. These pictures come from directories of 1957, 58, & 67.
In 1957 they advertised that they had 176 truck stops in 24 states

An odd little "Southern style" station attached to a motel (Steve Court) in Cameron, North Carolina.

[This message has been edited by Maps for the memories (edited 11-02-2007).]

One of the definitive cottage stations, on a 1935 map. Note the 32 state marketing area.

...Plus its rarer, simpler sister...

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I think Sunoco changed the arrow to diagonal when they went to plastic backlight signs. IIRC, it had to do with the heights of the backlit signs as opposed to the metal ones. I think they wanted the arrow to point to the station.

Dave,

Is the Hi-Speed/Pure building still in Imlay city yet? Or is it torned down? I have been up there a few times and could not find it. I have post card picture from it. I will put it up if I can find it?

Randy

Shot with HP pstc3100 at 2007-11-03

Check the crooked sign of this Florida location

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Nearly all Pure station had "BE SURE WITH PURE" on them. This one has "DON"T CUSS CALL US" Didn't get the memo??

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In the days before many refrigerated trailers they had be to iced and the little gasoline motor blew air over the ice to cool the load.

Hy-Flash: I believe that the Imlay City location is gone. Post your postcard of that location.

That Atlanta station is identical to the Pure truck stop on the old Beltline around Monona/Madison. I'm glad you posted this because I never got a chance to get a photo of the building. Today, you wouldn't know what it had been.

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Shot with KODAK DC3200 DIGITAL CAMERA at 2007-11-03

A Pure sign at a local body shop

I don't know what is going on with my ISP that my images are not loading. Web pages are doing fine. My apologies.

1926�Pure moves its general offices from Columbus to Chicago�s Jewelers� Building, which is then renamed the Pure Oil Building.
Late �20s�Supplies many Southeast marketers: Wofford Oil Company of Georgia, Wofford Oil Company of Alabama (1925), and Sherrill Oil Company of Pensacola (1925). Wofford sold a gasoline-benzol blend as �Woco-Pep.�
Cottage-type stations begin to be built.
Several domestic fields yield large oil strikes.
1927�Detonox brand, dyed red, is marketed in the East.
1928�Large holdings in Hickok Oil Corporation of Toledo deliver 14 bulk plants and nearly 300 gas stations in northern Ohio and the lower peninsula of Michigan.
1929�Purol-Pep regular, dyed blue, is marketed in all regions. Pure enters agreement with minor stakeholders in Van, Texas fields to intelligently exploit the resource.
1931�Arrangements are made with Keystone Oil and Manufacturing Company to begin distributing Pure products in its service stations. 15 Pure stations in the Chicago area result.
Motor grade gasoline introduced to Ohio: dyed blue, Purol-Pep reverts to a golden product.
1932�Pure buys large interest in AMSCO.
1933�Retails General Tire Company�s �Yale� brand tires.

Here are two postcard pictures of the Hi-Speed station in Imlay MI about 1939. In 1952 Pure Oil bought out the remaining stock of Hickok Oil and converted all the Hi-Speed Stations to Pure.

At the end Hickok Oil had 2000 stations between Ohio and Michigan?

So what happen to all the globes,signs?
Were they all destoyed like BP did to Sohio?

I'm looking for a 1qt oil can that says Pure and Hi-Speed on it?

Randy

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Well, that just makes my faded Hi-Speed map pale in comparison.

Unusual 1939 Pensacola map. Note the Yale Tires ad at the bottom.

An enlargement of the station pic.

A 1933 Art Deco Cover. The more prominent arrow reads "Century of Progress Chicago."

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Webb's was located in Ohio on U.S 30 near State Route 49 not far from the Indiana state line.

Double WOW!! on the Imlay City Hi-Speed postcards Hy-Flash

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A couple of Pure handy oil cans.

Both these maps are rather common. A 1934 and a 1938.

They illustrate the cottage stations nicely.

This is the front and back of a 1939 map. Notice the radically different front cover. At least they kept the station on the back.

1934�Pure suffers its only net financial loss.
1935�Pure Transportation Company subsidiary formed.
Mid �30s�Pure receives one of its greatest assets from a teacher in arrears on his credit, who wrote, �I feel sure with Pure.� �Be sure with Pure� becomes one of America�s most successful advertising slogans.
1936�Pure purchases many leases in the Illinois fields.
1937�Pure and Superior jointly build the first off-shore oil well.
Pure shuts down its Marcus Hook, NJ refinery
1938-1943�Illinois fields make the state Pure�s greatest producer.
1938�Hickok Oil, partially owned by Pure, begins a gas price war and contest in the Toledo area.
1939�Many New York and New Jersey properties sold to Gulf.
H.V. Kaltenborn begins his war commentary on CBS Radio.
Pure, Sun, Socony-Vacuum, and Hickok are sued by Charles E. Austin, Inc. for operating the Puritan station chain since 1937 to destroy competition.
1940�Pure Oil explorations in Oklahoma finally succeed.
Twin Ports Oil Co. of Duluth drops all corporations except Pure from its antitrust suit: verdict favors Pure.
WWII�Pure, Gulf, Socony-Vacuum, Atlantic, and Texaco design a butadiene plant to produce synthetic rubber at Port Neches.

Pure maps from WWII fall into two categories: the fairly common Kaltenborn war maps (which I don't collect) and the Pure "blue cover" series. These have just the logo on a lighter blue background, and are normal road maps otherwise. This is one of the covers I'm still looking for. So, someone else will need to fill these gaps.

[This message has been edited by Maps for the memories (edited 11-07-2007 for spelling demons).]

[This message has been edited by Maps for the memories (edited 11-07-2007).]

One Pure product that few collectors know about is the Puritan radio. These are rather plain tabletop radios with either wood or Bakelite cabinets that have rounded ends. These are thought to have been made in Chicago by one of the many small radio manufacturers there, possibly A.H. Grebe & Co. I am working on finding out more information about these and the Phillips "Woolaroc" radio.

I am also seeking a picture of the rumored "Cottage station" radio. I've seen Puritan radios but never this item.

My educated guess is that the cottage radio would date from the late 1930s, and the Puritans from the 1940s, with the Bakelite model just post WWII.

just this...

POSTING THIS PIC FOR THE BLASTMASTER...nice pump my friend..

Shot with HP pstc3100 at 2007-11-09

This sign is on old station that has several other brands in Ohio

Here is more Pure stuff.

Pure dinner plate and Pure Tiolene oil bottle. Both items will be on ebay sometime.

Ooh, Ooh, Ooh! I've been trying to get a Pure china item for awhile! Nice.

Here's another hunk of history:

1948�Pure has its best year for profits.
Pure approaches NASCAR to supply fuel in exchange for promotion considerations.
1949�Pure sells its stations in eastern Penn-sylvania to Gulf.
Pure purchases majority interest in Goldkamp Co. of Dayton, operator of ~40 service stations.
1950�Pure�s new R&D labs open in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

Here's a picture of the R&D lab building, courtesy of the Crystal Lake Public Library. This was on a placemat titled "Lost Crystal Lake," sponsored by the CL Historic Preservation Commission, CL Historical Society, and Downtown Crystal Lake/Main Street.

Here's another Pure-Restaurant-Motel combo, with a few Coke "buttons" tossed in.
This was the Garden Motor Court on U.S. 60, west of Ashland, KY.

MY ONLY PURE CAN

1952�Pure acquires the remainder of Hickok, which is operated by the Pure Oil Products Company. Pure Oil Products abandons the �Hi-Speed� trademark, marketing under Pure�s brand names. Hickok merges with Pure Oil Products Co. of Ohio, wholly owned subsidiary of Pure: Hickok�s preeminence in the truck stop industry makes Pure a leader in the field.

Front & back of one of my non-paper Pure items (actually, my only non-paper Pure item).

[This message has been edited by Maps for the memories (edited 11-11-2007).]

May as well continue in the truck stop vein.
Diesel fuel pump plates.
These are Matthews Auction photos, courtesy of Bob.

I have 4 Pure globes. The Detonox is from a Pure purchase in the early 20's.

This sign is just after the Union merger, in the mid 60's

still alive and well,glenview il.

now some kind of doctors office another in highland park il.inside looks just like it did in 1928 when it was built,with some added electric and stuff

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Glad you posted the Glenview station. I've been going nuts trying to remember where that was.
Will post more pix once I get my formerly favorite computer up & running.

Stations to follow, I hope. In the meanwhile, here are more maps.

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These are from 1955 and 1961.

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Here's a few signs.
First is probably a Hi-Speed sign.

These three are 15" curved porcelain signs.

These are 15" flat porcelain.

Another 15" flat porcelain.

[This message has been edited by puregas (edited 11-18-2007).]

Great job on the COTM, Judy!! Thanks for the hard work.

Here are some pumps and signs from the Simpler Times Museum in PA.

Have a Pure Day

[This message has been edited by tokheim (edited 11-20-2007).]

Here is my last Pure item. The Purelube and Hi-Speed bank.

Does anybody know the history of Tiolene Motor Oil? I know that it was made by the Tiona Oil Company in Binghamton, N.Y.

Did Pure Oil buy them out?

Thanks
Randy

[This message has been edited by hy-flash 72 (edited 11-20-2007).]

Still more history:
1953�Fire in its Eugene Island (LA) field adversely affects profits.
1954�Two refineries are closed, and Globe Oil and Refining Company sells its Lemont, Illinois refinery to Pure. This giant refinery serves the former W.H. Barber outlets in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and North and South Dakota.
24 states in current marketing area. High HP Purelube and New Super Duty Purelube introduced.
1955�Benzoco, Inc., of Dayton is purchased, with Pure gaining 22 service stations and a bulk plant.
1956�Venezuelan exploration begins in a joint venture with Signal Oil, Hancock Oil, and Sohio.
1957�Pure Oil Performance tests begin, testing American automobile efficiency.
Lemont refinery suffers a 12-week strike.

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Hi-Speed polish can that I successfully downgraded by cleaning it with warm water. Lesson learned!!!

Here are some of my Pure small collectibles.
Pat.

One more.

I really like the "Pep" hose on the matchbook. What's the vintage of the "Ask me" buttons?

I'm not sure about the year for the "Ask Me"
buttons,but Dirty Dan the Carbon Man can be dated to the early to late thirty's. Pictures shown below are dated 1935,1936. I believe the Ask Me buttons are late thirtys to early fortys. Hi-Speed used the Carbon man around 1938 I believe on their maps.

Notice in last picture Dirty Dan "steals power" Carbon Conquered with Super Solvenized Woco Pep.Dirty Dan's done!

More station pictures.

More.

end

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[This message has been edited by puregas (edited 11-22-2007).]

More.

Notice art deco metal body globe and rare twin clockface pump.What model pump is this?

Notice RARE Energee Diesel Fuel pump plate. I have never seen one of these outside of this picture. If anyone has one, I would pay
$1000.00 or more dependent on condition.

Former station on US 12 & 45 in LaGrange, IL.

[This message has been edited by Maps for the memories (edited 11-24-2007).]

Three Pure sign pole thermometers.

Here is little bit of information about Dirty Dan.

The cartoon character Dirty Dan the Carbon Man was created for the Pocahontas Oil Company (Blue Flash Gasoline) from Cleveland, Ohio. It was used for advertising their �Solvenized Blue Flash� gasoline. Dirty Dan used only on the early Blue Flash Hi-Speed maps. Later Hi-Speed maps he was not used. Solvenized (solvent) was an additive designed to dissolve carbon in your engine. It was from the Lubrizol Company.
Hickok Oil (Hi-Speed) bought out the Pocahontas Oil about 1934-35. Hickok did not advertise it�s gasoline as �Solvenized� they used �Ex-Carbon� instead. Since Pure was a minor stock holder of Hickok Oil�. Pure Oil (Purol Pep and Woco-Pep)adopted the �Solvenized� process for their advertising. The rest is Hickok Oil and Pure Oil history.

I hope this helps..about Dirty Dan.

Randy

Puregas,
Answer to your Question "Notice art deco metal body globe and rare twin clockface pump.What model pump is this?"
1934 ERIE Model 50 CASH RECORDER [pg.162 in Jack's book].
db

Hey Randy,
Good to know where Dirty Dan came from.Check out my smalls pictures above as I have a Hi-Speed "Solvenized" advertising button with the newer Carbon man on it.

Hey Dick,
Thanks for that I.D. on the pump.Pat.

Neat plaque that must have been attached to the cottage stations.

Few porcelain signs.

Pat.

Nice to see so many pictures and so many unusual items. The plaque is fabulous. I wonder where it was installed on the building?

What's the story of the Pure stations I saw in Alabama,Viginiia and Kentucky at few (5-10) years ago I heard the Pure brand name was used by independant jobbers. is it still going? The station in Mongumery was closed the last time I went through there.

There are several open around the Memphis, Tn area. Still going strong.

Well, I was about to get around to the rest of the story...
1959�FTC cracks down on localized �gas war� pricing by Pure.
Pure purchases Wisconsin Independent Oil Co. (Wisco) of Milwaukee, and purchases subsidiaries Pure Oil Products Co. of Michigan, Inc. and Shaw Brothers Oil Co. of Miami.
1960�Pure absorbs the Woodley Petroleum Company, and its various oil field properties. Fluctuations in the oil market cause Pure financial grief that begins its decline. Exploration divisions are consolidated by regions.
Pure�s �Big One� service station concept is unleashed.
Palatine, Illinois division headquarters are finished.
Stanley Whitfield of Chattanooga, Tennessee begins his career with Pure Oil.
Early 60�s�Pure�s Olney, Illinois division is closed and its buildings become a junior college campus. Pure enters the petrochemical sector in a co-venture with Atlantic, producing benzene, toluene, and xylene at Lemont, next manufacturing hexane and heptane. The chemicals are sold under the American Mineral Spirits Company (remember AMSCO?)
1961�Fuel markets are overhauled in conjunction with Crystal Lake research. In March, the Firebird brand replaces the various �Pep� grades.
Montgomery Ward opens catalog desks at three Pure service stations (Palatine, IL; Fox Lake, IL; and Greensboro, NC).
Pure purchases Cascade Petroleum and Davidson Drilling.
1962�Finances weaken further. Pure enters the Arabian oil boom.
In May, plans to establish gas-restaurant-motel (�Tourest�) combinations along the Interstates are revealed, with TraveLodge Corp. to manage the motels, and Quaker Oats to manage the Aunt Jemima restaurant chain.
1963�Off-shore drilling co-ventures bring Pure and Union Oil in the same solar system. Pure discovers that much of its stock has been purchased by a New York brokerage firm which begins the takeover process. Atlantic Refining also attempts to purchase the company.
1964�Allied Chemical and Consolidation Coal, with New York (Loeb-Rhoades) help, attempt to buy out Pure. A syndicate of several corporations, including du Pont, disintegrates when the extent of Pure�s corporate trouble is learned. Petrofina of Belgium also considers merging with Pure.
1965�Atlantic withdraws merger bid. Possibly encouraged by dissident stockholders, Ashland Oil & Refining and Hunt Oil try to top Union offer. Pure is merged with Union Oil, who realized the strengths of Pure�s oil reserves. Crystal Lake�s research department is moved to Brea, California. Pure�s Canadian assets are incorporated into Union Oil of Canada.
The last post-merger board meeting is held at Palatine.
Mid-1960s�76 antenna balls become a fad in the Midwest before a single ball sign is seen.
ca. 1966�Union Oil attempts to deed the Crystal Lake complex to the Illinois Institute of Technology.
1967�McHenry County College takes over the buildings, which comprise its campus until 1975. MCC is known for its automotive classes that utilized the Pure equipment to best advantage. The model Pure station on U.S. 14, adjacent to campus, is closed forever.
1968�Stanley Whitfield enters Smith & McDaniels Distributors, a small Pure distributor in Georgia that becomes Whitfield Oil.
1980�Whitfield buys M.H. Oil and changes it from a Shell distributor to a Union 76 marketer.
1992�The Firebird becomes a phoenix. The Pure trademark is sold, and becomes a brand of Whitfield Oil.
Ca. 1996�The Pure trademark, and Firebird Gasoline trademarks are also made available through the Southeastern Oil Jobbers Cooperative.

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always looking for large neon storefront signs

Whoops, sorry about that huge picture

I sure hadn't anticipated a dying computer this month. These pictures are in no particular order: I salvaged what files I could.

[This message has been edited by Maps for the memories (edited 11-29-2007).]

Some more pictures Bob sent me. Unfortunately, I do not have the entire attribution correct, but some were from Aumann or Matthews Auctions. Please forgive me for this breach of netiquette.

[This message has been edited by Maps for the memories (edited 11-29-2007).]