Oil company maps – North America – Esso

As with parent company Standard of New Jersey, the Louisiana-based Standard subsidiary adopted the Esso name and logo in the early Thirties. This map was issued in 1936. The company continued to use the Standard of Louisiana name until around World War II.

This 1934 map issued by Standard of New Jersey is the first series bearing the new Esso brand name and oval logo with its stylized "E". The name is a phonetic representation of Standard Oil's initials. This logo was destined to become one of the most widely-recognized trademarks and would be used worldwide. However, within the United States, legal constraints on Jersey Standard's use of the Standard name outside its assigned marketing area also precluded the Esso variant on the Standard name across the United States. This eventually led Jersey standard to adopt the Exxon brand for all U. S. operations in the early Seventies.

Colonial Beacon was formed in a Twenties-era merger between two New England firms and purchased by Standard of New Jersey in 1930. Colonial Beacon stations, like the Standard stations operated by Jersey Standard elsewhere, were rebranded to use the Esso name in 1933. Even so, Colonial Beacon retained its identity as a subsidiary of Jersey until after World War II.

This panoramic cover from 1950 is typical of the maps issued by Esso and affiliates during the postwar years.

This map was issued by Imperial Esso in 1952.

This 1977 map of Ontario nominally uses the Rolph-McNally generic cover with the addition of the Esso brand. This issue is probably one of the last Imperial Esso road map issues.

The 1911 breakup of the Standard Oil trust left Standard of Kentucky (Kyso) with no production facilities of its own. Consequently, Kyso obtained its petroleum by contract from Jersey Standard (Esso) and Esso-branded fuels and lubricants were sold in Kyso's marketing territory in the southeastern United States. When Kyso was bought by Standard of California (Socal) in 1961, the company canceled its longstanding supply contacts with Jersey Standard (Esso), since Socal was intending to supply Chevron-branded fuel and lubricants to its new subsidiary. Esso scrambled to re-establish its presence in Kyso territory, purchasing and remodeling stations or constructing new ones with the Esso brand. The use of the Esso brand in Kyso's territory became the subject of a lawsuit. The result of this suit forced Jersey Standard to take down the Esso signs and replace them with the Enco brand. This map was issued in 1963 before the lawsuit had been resolved and during the period when Jersey Standard was still using the Esso brand outside its principal marketing territory.