Oil company maps – North America – Standard

After the 1911 breakup of the Standard Oil trust, Standard Oil Company of California (Socal) was assigned the territory consisting of Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. This 1933 map plays up the Standard brand name and not incidentally, the words "road map"!

Socal had a Mexican subsidiary, the California Standard Oil Company de Mexico, which issued this map in the mid-Thirties.

This 1940 map showed a typical Standard of California station of that era. Both the station design and road map cover strongly resemble those run by the company's subsidiary California Company in western states outside the company's assigned territory.

Standard of California ("Socal") expanded its operations into the westernmost Canadian province with its Standard Oil Company of British Columbia subsidiary. This map dates from 1940 and, not surprisingly, is quite similar to the design Socal used on its U. S. map series of that period.

This colorful 1952 issue is typical of the beautiful water color designs issued by Standard of California and its subsidiaries during the postwar years up to the early Sixties. Note the Chevron brand's appearance on the map cover; by the Seventies, the Chevron name and a modernized logo would supplant the Standard name in Socal's assigned operating territory.

This 1945 map was issued by Standard Oil Company of Indiana as the company was in the process of switching from their old rectangular logo to the torch and oval logo, a modernized variant of which is still in use.

This 1947 map was issued by Standard Oil Company of Indiana just after the company acquired Standard of Nebraska. The map shows the Nebraska company's ball and bar logo which was in the process of being replaced by the torch and oval logo of its Indiana parent.

The Standard Oil Company of Kentucky was often referred to as "Kyso" and this abbreviation can be seen above the red bar on this 1946 map. Kentucky Standard was allowed use of the Standard name in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, and Mississippi. Having no production facilities of its own, Kyso obtained its petroleum by contract from Jersey Standard ("Esso"). As such, Kyso was little more than a marketing operation and was said to be the world's largest jobber.

This 1961 map shows Kentucky Standard's post-war logo, and dates just prior to Kyso's acquisition by Standard of California.

This 1969 map shows a transitional phase for Kentucky Standard (Kyso). Now a subsidiary of Standard of California, the parent company's widely-known chevron appears alongside the traditional Kentucky Standard logo. Beginning in the early Seventies, the Chevron brand will replace the Standard name throughout the Kyso operating region.

Long affiliated with Standard of New Jersey, Standard Oil Company of Louisiana first marketed under the Stanocola name, then adopted its New Jersey parent's ball and bar logo. The Louisiana company was assigned use of the Standard name in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee. This map was issued in 1930.

Standard of Nebraska was assigned marketing in Nebraska, but had no refining facilities of its own. This map was issued in 1925.

This 1942 map shows Standard of Nebraska's ball and bar logo, which bears a modest similarity to logos used by other Standard companies during the early years. The Nebraska company was acquired by Standard of Indiana just after World War II. Shortly thereafter, the subsidiary adopted Indiana Standard's new torch and oval logo.

This 1930 map issued by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey seems to convey the notion that travel of that era was not far removed from that of stage coach days. While that image is undoubtedly not the one intended, roads and autos of the Thirties seem distinctly primitive from a Nineties perspective.

This plain yet attractive map issued by Standard of New Jersey in 1933 shows the ball and bar Standard logo used by that company before the adoption of the Esso brand and logo the following year.

The Standard Oil Company of New York was assigned marketing in New York and New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont). The company was one of the first former member of the Standard trust to adopt a brand other than the Standard name. This may have been logical for the company given that the company had long been known by the address SOCONY in telegraph messages. The shield shown in this 1927 map would be used in the company logo for many years, though with a number of variations over time.

In 1931, Socony (the Standard Oil Company of New York) merged with its sibling Vacuum Oil Company to form Socony-Vacuum, and adopted the Mobilgas and Mobiloil names that had been used by Vacuum for several years. This 1934 Socony map shows the Pegasus flying horse which had just been adopted that year as part of the company's logo, and which remains a recognizable symbol which is still in use to this day.

The dissolution of the Standard Oil trust in 1911 left the Standard Oil Company of Ohio assigned to marketing within its namesake state. The company's adoption of the Sohio name had already taken place by the 1936 issue date of this map.

A modernized Sohio logo had only been in use about a year at the time this colorful map of Ohio and neighboring states was issued in 1963. British Petroleum began to acquire stock in Standard of Ohio from 1969 forward, gradually increasing its ownership to 100 percent by the late Eighties. All Sohio stations, as well as those of the company's Boron subsidiary that operated outside Ohio, were rebranded with the familiar BP green shield beginning in about 1992.

Sohio issued maps of four Ohio cities: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron, and Toledo. Unlike most other oil companies, Sohio's city maps were tall, stapled booklets and were drawn by a local cartographer. This map, like most of Sohio's city map issues, was undated and probably was issued in the late Sixties or early Seventies.