Skelly Oil
Encyclopedia
Skelly Oil Company was a medium sized "major" oil company founded in 1919 by William Grove (Bill) Skelly
, Chesley Coleman Herndon and Frederick A. Pielsticker in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Previously, about 1915, Mr. Skelly had formed Skelly Sanky Oil Company in Duncan, Oklahoma. Mr. Skelly came to Oklahoma from Pennsylvania in about 1913 where he worked as a mule skinner and tool dresser in the oil fields around Ardmore and Duncan, Oklahoma, prior to partnering with Jack Sanky. Mr. Herndon was the son of Captain Thomas Herndon, a Civil War veteran who oversaw a family fortune in real estate, tobacco and banking in Tennessee ([source]"An Adventure Called Skelly," by Roberta Ironside, copyright 1970 by Skelly Oil Company). Captain Herndon's cousin William Herndon was Abraham Lincoln's law partner in Illinois. Chesley Coleman Herndon was a practicing attorney in Tulsa when he won several court victories against William Skelly involving oil leases on Osage Indian land. Mr. Skelly summoned Herndon to his office for a meeting after his final loss in court, and shortly thereafter, the two unlikely allies, along with Fred Pielsticker, the son of German immigrants who was orphaned at age twelve and became a renowned engineer, would form Skelly Oil Company. For the next thirty-seven years, Skelly and Herndon held the number one and two positions in the company, and are buried twenty-five feet apart in Tulsa's Rose Hill Mauseleum, the same distance as their desks for almost half a century. A 1932 Fortune Magazine article stated that "Skelly Oil Company is a great success because of the different temperaments of its top executives... in this company, William Skelly is the accelerator and Chesley Herndon is the brake."
The company entered in to the refining business by purchasing the Midland Refining Company in Eldorado, Kansas, in 1922. Throughout much of its history, Skelly was a popular gasoline marketer throughout the Midwestern United States and was a market leader in several cities throughout its marketing area including Tulsa, Oklahoma City
, Kansas City
, Wichita
, Topeka
, Omaha
, Des Moines
, Minneapolis/Saint Paul
and other cities. Skelly's branded products included Skelly Regular, Powermax, Keotane and Skeltane gasolines; and Skelly Supreme, Tagolene, Skelmark and Ranger motor oils, and Skelgas propane products through Skelgas franchised stores. What may have been unique to Skelly, beginning in the late 1950's it offered its female customers a Ladies Credit Card in a shade of light blue.
Skelly was among the leading oil companies to develop a network of truck stops along major highways including the interstate during the 1950s and 1960s. Skelly also had a contract to sell gasoline at most locations of the now-defunct Nickerson Farms
restaurant chain during the 1960s and 1970s, which was similar to Texaco's
arrangement with Stuckey's
.
series The Air Adventures of Jimmie Allen
and Captain Midnight
. Also sponsor of Alex Drier news on ABC radio from Chicago in the late 1940's and early 1950's.
Mr. Skelly was a supporter of the University of Tulsa. He was instrumental in the creation of the University's radio station and it was assigned the call letters KWGS in his honor.
Skelly's great-granddaughter is currently working on a career in country music.
in the 1930s.
The depression put Skelly in a financial strain. In order to reduce the payroll, some Skelly employees were transferred to Tidewater Associated Oil Company which was controlled by J. Paul Getty and his mother, Sarah C. Getty. In the late 1930's these employees were transferred back to Skelly. The Gettys made a cash loan to Skelly Oil and company treasury held stock and some of Mr. Skelly's stock were given as collateral for the loan. When the company was unable to repay the loan when it became due the stock was transferred to Mission Corporation, a holding company of the Getty's that also controlled Tidewater. Both Mr. Skelly and Mr. Herndon remained as CEO and Executive Vice President, respectively, until their deaths. Thereafter, Skelly executives remained as CEO's until the merger with Getty Oil Company. In the late 1960's Tidewater became Getty Oil Company. Skelly Oil was eventually merged into Getty Oil
in 1977 and the Skelly brand (and associated brands) were discontinued. Many former Skelly gas stations were rebranded to Getty, then to Texaco
after Getty was acquired by Texaco in 1984.
William Skelly
William Grove Skelly , often known as Bill or William G. Skelly, was an entrepreneur who made a fortune in the oil business. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, he moved to Kansas in 1916, then to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1919, where he founded Skelly Oil Company. By 1923, his company was one of the strongest...
, Chesley Coleman Herndon and Frederick A. Pielsticker in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Previously, about 1915, Mr. Skelly had formed Skelly Sanky Oil Company in Duncan, Oklahoma. Mr. Skelly came to Oklahoma from Pennsylvania in about 1913 where he worked as a mule skinner and tool dresser in the oil fields around Ardmore and Duncan, Oklahoma, prior to partnering with Jack Sanky. Mr. Herndon was the son of Captain Thomas Herndon, a Civil War veteran who oversaw a family fortune in real estate, tobacco and banking in Tennessee ([source]"An Adventure Called Skelly," by Roberta Ironside, copyright 1970 by Skelly Oil Company). Captain Herndon's cousin William Herndon was Abraham Lincoln's law partner in Illinois. Chesley Coleman Herndon was a practicing attorney in Tulsa when he won several court victories against William Skelly involving oil leases on Osage Indian land. Mr. Skelly summoned Herndon to his office for a meeting after his final loss in court, and shortly thereafter, the two unlikely allies, along with Fred Pielsticker, the son of German immigrants who was orphaned at age twelve and became a renowned engineer, would form Skelly Oil Company. For the next thirty-seven years, Skelly and Herndon held the number one and two positions in the company, and are buried twenty-five feet apart in Tulsa's Rose Hill Mauseleum, the same distance as their desks for almost half a century. A 1932 Fortune Magazine article stated that "Skelly Oil Company is a great success because of the different temperaments of its top executives... in this company, William Skelly is the accelerator and Chesley Herndon is the brake."
The company entered in to the refining business by purchasing the Midland Refining Company in Eldorado, Kansas, in 1922. Throughout much of its history, Skelly was a popular gasoline marketer throughout the Midwestern United States and was a market leader in several cities throughout its marketing area including Tulsa, Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
, Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Wichita
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
, Topeka
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
, Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, Des Moines
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
, Minneapolis/Saint Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
and other cities. Skelly's branded products included Skelly Regular, Powermax, Keotane and Skeltane gasolines; and Skelly Supreme, Tagolene, Skelmark and Ranger motor oils, and Skelgas propane products through Skelgas franchised stores. What may have been unique to Skelly, beginning in the late 1950's it offered its female customers a Ladies Credit Card in a shade of light blue.
Skelly was among the leading oil companies to develop a network of truck stops along major highways including the interstate during the 1950s and 1960s. Skelly also had a contract to sell gasoline at most locations of the now-defunct Nickerson Farms
Nickerson Farms
Nickerson Farms was an American roadside restaurant franchise that existed between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s. It was started by a former Stuckey's franchisee who did not agree with that chain's rules and regulations. Nickerson Farms had as many as sixty restaurants located along Interstate...
restaurant chain during the 1960s and 1970s, which was similar to Texaco's
Texaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
arrangement with Stuckey's
Stuckey's
Stuckey's is a roadside convenience store chain found on highways throughout the United States. Stores are concentrated in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest, although operations have existed as far east as Connecticut and as far west as Oregon...
.
Arts sponsorship
The company was well known as a sponsor of radio dramaRadio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
series The Air Adventures of Jimmie Allen
The Air Adventures of Jimmie Allen
The Air Adventures of Jimmie Allen was a radio adventure serial created by writers Bob Burtt and Bill Moore, both of whom were from Kansas City, Missouri...
and Captain Midnight
Captain Midnight
Captain Midnight is a U.S. adventure franchise first broadcast as a radio serial from 1938 to 1949. Sponsored by the Skelly Oil Company, the radio program was the creation of radio scripters Wilfred G. Moore and Robert M...
. Also sponsor of Alex Drier news on ABC radio from Chicago in the late 1940's and early 1950's.
Mr. Skelly was a supporter of the University of Tulsa. He was instrumental in the creation of the University's radio station and it was assigned the call letters KWGS in his honor.
Skelly's great-granddaughter is currently working on a career in country music.
Getty takeover
William Skelly lost control of the company to J. Paul GettyJ. Paul Getty
Jean Paul Getty was an American industrialist. He founded the Getty Oil Company, and in 1957 Fortune magazine named him the richest living American, whilst the 1966 Guinness Book of Records named him as the world's richest private citizen, worth an estimated $1,200 million. At his death, he was...
in the 1930s.
The depression put Skelly in a financial strain. In order to reduce the payroll, some Skelly employees were transferred to Tidewater Associated Oil Company which was controlled by J. Paul Getty and his mother, Sarah C. Getty. In the late 1930's these employees were transferred back to Skelly. The Gettys made a cash loan to Skelly Oil and company treasury held stock and some of Mr. Skelly's stock were given as collateral for the loan. When the company was unable to repay the loan when it became due the stock was transferred to Mission Corporation, a holding company of the Getty's that also controlled Tidewater. Both Mr. Skelly and Mr. Herndon remained as CEO and Executive Vice President, respectively, until their deaths. Thereafter, Skelly executives remained as CEO's until the merger with Getty Oil Company. In the late 1960's Tidewater became Getty Oil Company. Skelly Oil was eventually merged into Getty Oil
Getty Oil
Getty Oil is an oil company founded by J. Paul Getty. It was at its height during the 1960s. In 1971, the Getty Realty division was formed to manage the real estate needs of Getty stations. The division was later spun off, but now owns the rights to the Getty brand...
in 1977 and the Skelly brand (and associated brands) were discontinued. Many former Skelly gas stations were rebranded to Getty, then to Texaco
Texaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
after Getty was acquired by Texaco in 1984.