Category: Buildings & Facilities

04Feb

$Col-Tex Gasoline’s Roots in Anderson-Prichard Oil Corporation$

Col-Tex Gasoline’s Roots in Anderson-Prichard Oil Corporation

In 1924, L. H. Pritchard and J. Steven Anderson opened the West Texas Refinery Company just west of Colorado City, Texas, to process Mitchell County Oil. When the two oil industry pioneers started up this project in Texas, their work formed the roots of what soon came to be an iconic brand of gasoline in the early part of the 20th Century.

$Col-Tex Challenge Gasoline Brand$

Col-Tex Challenge Gasoline

Ownership soon changed to Standard Oil of California, which renamed the company “Col-Tex Refining”. From the 1930s to 1950s, the refinery operated at a full capacity of 12,000 barrels a day. The company was a major part of Colorado City life; it employed many local workers and residents timed their activities by the refinery whistle.

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30Dec

Wood Oil Company – APCO Station Painting by Michael Young

One of the finest depictions of a classic old Anderson-Prichard Oil Corporation brand gas station is the one created by painter Michael Young. His “Wood Oil Company” is a beautiful painting of a gleaming white, full-service filling station, circa 1950s, with the attendant checking the oil for a classic convertible.

Other classic cars and a pickup truck surround the station, including even a hotrod, with flames painted on its hood and door.

The painting is bright, with colors reflecting off of the pavement, as though there had just been a rain, or the attendant had just washed it off, giving it a mirrored surface.

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23Oct

The Colcord Building

While the Anderson-Prichard Oil Corporation was founded as a Delaware corporation, Lev H. Prichard and J. Steve Anderson set up the company headquarters in the grand Colcord Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma back in 1919.

Architect's Drawing of Colcord Building - Early Anderson-Prichard Oil Company Headquarters Offices, Oklahoma City, Circa 1919 — Architect’s Drawing of Colcord Building – Early Anderson-Prichard Oil Company Headquarters Offices, Oklahoma City, Circa 1919

The building was finished in 1909 and is considered to be Oklahoma City’s very first skyscraper. It is 145 feet (44 m) tall and currently has 14 floors (when it was completed in 1910, it only had 12 foors).

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