Crown Central Petroleum, commonly known as Crown, is an American oil company that has flourished in Baltimore since the early 20th century until its recent decline due to rebranding.

History

Crown Central Petroleum Company or Crown, first began in 1917 in Harris County, Texas, when the New Crown Oil and Refining Company's Number 3 well struck oil. In 2013

Clark Brands Clark Brands, formerly Clark Oil, began as Clark's Super Gas and was a 20th-century petroleum, oil company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. History Founded by Emory T. Clark in 1932 as a single filling station on t ...

acquired the brand licensing business of Crown Central Petroleum. An abandoned Crown gas station was used in the production of

House Of Cards A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an Expression (language), expression that dates back to ...

, a Netflix original series. The building, in Churchville, Maryland, is currently still standing, but it's underground gasoline tanks have since polluted the ground beneath it. This has, and is currently causing issues with the possibility of future redevelopment and residential

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

contamination. Crown has not addressed these issues, and the contamination is currently present to date.

Endangerment

During the summer of 2006, many stations began to disappear. All but about 20 stations were rebranded to either

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, or

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gas stations. This is because the company sold these stations about two years ago, as reported in ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

''. As of the Spring of 2022 20 Crown stations operate in the state of Maryland. There are four Crown branded stations operating in Baltimore, Maryland. All four stations utilized a standard self service canopy set up featuring a brick and tan stucco design. All four stations currently operate 24 hours a day. The stations can be found at 4201 Erdman Ave , 5101 York Rd, 501 E 33rd St and 4123 Frederick Ave

References

External links

Crown Central Petroleum's Official Website
Oil companies of the United States American companies established in 1925 1925 establishments in the United States {{US-energy-company-stub