Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana Neat White Star Refinery find.....

Hello All,

I wanted to share the story of a new acquisition with everyone. Last summer a business contact asked why I had a Mobilgas shield on the wall of my cubicle at work, so I explained to her that I collected Mobil items. She relayed that her 88 year old father had started working for S-V General Petroleum division in California in the 1940's, and had retired from Mobil in the 1980's. He was in the research department, and was instrumental in the research/production of Mobil 1 synthetic oil. I told Jill I would love to chat with him sometime and to tell him to stop by the store some day. It was only a day or two later Mr. Havins stopped by to see me. He was a very nice man and was surprised anyone my age would have any interest in talking about his former job. He said to stop by sometime as he had some things I might be interested in, and left me his number. A couple weeks later his daughter was in and said her Dad had went home and pulled out some stuff for me as he was excited to talk with someone about his years with Mobil. Unfortunately it didn't work for us to meet up, but of course I kept thinking about what he might have for me to look at.

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago, Jill's husband was in so I inquired about Mr. Havins and he said he wasn't doing well health-wise, and that they were in process of moving. I said that Jill had told me he had some stuff for me and he replied, "He may have, but it's probably thrown out now because of the move". I was thinking I really screwed this one up! Low and behold Jill walks in the store yesterday morning and asks for me. I see she had a box, so I got a bit excited. She said "Here's some stuff from Dad, do what you want with it, keep it, pitch it, whatever. It's some history stuff he thought you might be interested in. I kept some station photos and a Pegasus ashtray for myself." I thanked her and asked her to thank her Dad as well for remembering me, even immediately after their difficult move.

On top were some "boring" Mobil items from the 1980's, but under that was a book called "The Gargoyle Manual" from 1929 with the history of Vacuum Oil Company and Mobiloil in very nice condition. Next up was 28 aluminum plates glued to pages made to put on machines with the grade of Mobiloil or grease the machine would use. I thought it was pretty cool to get an instant collection of them! Then there was a lubrication book from 1962.

When I got to the item on the bottom, I was unable to contain my excitement.....it was a bound book with 42 original 8X10 photos, property of White Star Refining Co.! There are beautiful professional photos of the corporate offices, service stations, all of the signs they used at the time, photos of refineries....it's an unbelievable historical artifact. It has a label in the front that it is the property of White Star and it was loaned to a H.A. Coffin....I thought the name was familiar, so I looked and he was in a photo in the book of the officers of the company. Harry Boyd Earhart started White Star Refining in 1910, and upon his retirement in January of 1933, Howard A. Coffin then president of the company succeeded Earhart as CEO. Also in the book were loose photos of White Star Mobil stations, delivery trucks, and other related items. I am simply blown away by this book! Since I live in the original White Star territory it sure is a special item for my collection. Since Mr. Havins is unable to see my collection in person, I plan on taking a bunch of photos of it to take along on a visit, VERY soon. The book he gave me is an unbelievable historic account of White Star Refining Company, and I need to thank him in person for the wonderful gift. I wanted to share with the membership some photos from the book. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do, as an item like this is something you just do not see everyday!
Darin







Officers of White Star Refining Company



Sites of White Star bulk storage tanks in Michigan....













Photos of signage to follow......
Darin

White Star signage of the time.....



Descriptions of the signage and which type was to be placed at the station based on sales volume....



Grease gun display...anyone have one of these?!



Last but not least, the pages of machine tags.
Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy the photos.
Darin

AWESOME Darin, i knew you were excited about this stuff when you texted me.
Good find/gifts!!
Dan

you scored some good history, thanks for sharing...

Great story and a real piece of history. Thanks for sharing! Enjoy your visit!

Darin congrats on forming a friendship with Mr. Havins...


Karma, was "looking out for both of you"...

Wonderful pieces of Petro History are now safe, with you. And because of that; the Petro Hobby is much stronger tonight....

Also, Mr. Havins will find in you; Someone that appreciates the experiences he is willing to share with you...

Sounds like the ultimate win-win situation, to me...

Awesome artifacts and account of the early company history and an even better story!

Darin,
I DO HOPE you take the time SOON to Visit. It will mean More to him to be able to Share His Life w/ you than anything else you could offer him. Take a recording device & get him talking. When this information is lost to time, it's GONE. Time waits on NO ONE.

Congrats Darin on a great piece of history and thanks for taking your time to showcase this to the members. I enjoyed the read.

Thanks everyone for the comments.....yes DB, I plan on trying to get a hold of Mr. Havins and hopefully stop by his new home this weekend as I know for sure that time is of the essence when the health starts to go, etc.
There are many more great photos in the album, but due to the obvious problems with photo theft, I just wanted to share a sampling of the contents as it's a great piece.
Darin

Darin, great donation by the family to a fellow who will genuinely treasure it, you're a lucky dude..and it all came about because of a chance observance of a porcelain plate in a cubicle no less!

Thats really neat.I would really have to meet Mr. Havins to let him know THANKS and would love to hear some of his story's. I'm sure he would have a few.And he probably would really be glad to meet you and share knowledge.

Gene

Wow, that is some amazing history! Great find, and I agree, gotta go talk to the gentlemen before its too late. I'm sure he has some awesome stories and history.

Darin
What a great find. A similiar picture of your bulk plant net work was used in there advertisement.





Picture of the White Star announcement party switch to Mobil. I worked with a gentleman who started with White Star & later as a Mobil distributor for many years.

Dave

Thanks again all, glad to share.
Dave, if you ever want to stop by and look at the book just let me know.
Darin

Wow, great find and great Story Darin!! I can really appreciate your enthusiasm for the pieces!! Great stuff!! Very interesting!!

I'm quite sure the old guy was happy to find someone who would appreciate the history that he held onto for so many years. He knew he had found a good home for it once he had talked with you Darin.

Awesome story Darin!! Glad you got the pieces! Great pictures!

...there was one of these on eBay a while back - but I don't think it had the pages with the metal tags...

X2

Cool story. That post by DB is just plain eerie.