Pure Oil Company (Chicago, Ill.)

Incorporated in 1914 as the Columbus Production Company (later Ohio Cities Oil Company), it discovered oil on company property and in 1917 acquired Pure Oil Company, an independant marketer and refiner, and evolved from a utility to a unit company, involved in all aspects of the oil business and moved to Chicago, Ill. in 1926 where it continued to add properties and develop new products. It was the first company to find oil in southern Illinois, in the first offshore well in the Gulf of Mexico and the first to bring in a geothermal well. It introduced Firebird gasolines in 1961 and entered petrochemicals with the construction BTX (benzene-toluene-xylene)units at two refineries. During WWII, one-quarter of the staff produced aviation fuel and butadiene, a synthetic rubber base. It introduced the first TOURest, combination service station, restaurant and motel. In 1965, Fred Hartley of Union Oils of California (Unocal), initiated a merger with Pure Oil president, Robert L. Milligan which brought Pure to national status with operations in 37 states.