Skelly Oil Company was a medium-sized oil company founded in 1919 by
William Grove (Bill) Skelly, Chesley Coleman Herndon and Frederick A. Pielsticker in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
J. Paul Getty acquired control of the company during the 1930s. It became defunct when fully absorbed by
Getty Oil Company in 1974, and the disused Skelly brand logo was revived by Nimmons-Joliet Development Corp. in 2012.
History
Founding
Bill Skelly (1878–1957) 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 to form Skelly Sanky Oil Company in Duncan, Oklahoma in 1915. An advertisement in ''The
Pittsburgh Press
''The Pittsburgh Press'' (formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'') was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1884 to 1992. At one time, the ''Press'' was the second larg ...
'' on January 4, 1922, stated that Skelly Oil Company was formed to take over the oil properties of Skelly and of the Skelly Sanky company.
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. 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.
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.
Captain Herndon's cousin
William Herndon was Abraham Lincoln's law partner in Illinois.
For the next 37 years, Skelly and Herndon held the number one and two positions in the company, and are buried 25 feet apart in Tulsa's Rose Hill Mausoleum, 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."
Growth
The company entered into the refining business by purchasing the Midland Refining Company in El Dorado, 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
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
,
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
,
Kansas City,
Wichita,
Topeka
Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Uni ...
,
Omaha,
Des Moines,
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
/
Saint Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
and other cities.
Skelly's branded products included Skelly Skeltane, Regular, 50-50, Special, Keotane and Powermax gasolines; 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 1950s it offered its female customers a Ladies Credit Card in a shade of light blue.
Skelly Oil Company grew to become a major oil company known for its exploration and production expertise as well as the capabilities of its refineries and manufacturing facilities in conjunction with its well-established marketing and distribution network. Skelly Oil Company was an early leader in offshore drilling and production ranging from Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico to the Persian Gulf with a foreign presence in Canada, Argentina, Australia, Korea, Libya, Iran, and Mozambique. In addition to its E&P and refining divisions, Skelly Oil Company also had well-established chemical, manufacturing, engineering, and research divisions. It was an early pioneer of LPG products and building upon its base of substantial uranium ore reserves, established a role in conversion and fuel fabrication and in recovery and reprocessing for the fledgling nuclear power industry.
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 was an American roadside restaurant franchise that existed between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s. It was started by I. J. Nickerson, a former Stuckey's franchisee who did not agree with that chain's rules and regulations. Nick ...
restaurant chain during the 1960s and 1970s, which was similar to
Texaco's arrangement with
Stuckey's
Stuckey's is a convenience store in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwestern United States. known for its pecan log rolls and kitschy souvenirs. Additionally, Stuckey's sells candy, apparel, and souvenirs, and other products online.
Stuckey's ...
.
Arts sponsorship
The company was well known as a sponsor of the
radio drama
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...
series ''
The Air Adventures of Jimmie Allen'' and ''
Captain Midnight''. Skelly also sponsored
Alex Dreier
Alexander M. Dreier (June 26, 1916 – March 11, 2000) was an American news reporter and commentator who worked with NBC Radio during the 1940s, and later with the ABC Information Radio network in the 1960s and early 1970s. Dreier then became a ...
news broadcasts on
ABC radio from
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Getty takeover
William Skelly lost control of the company to
J. Paul Getty in the 1930s, when the
Great Depression put Skelly in a financial strain. To reduce the payroll, the company transferred some of its employees to
Tidewater Associated Oil Company, which was controlled by J. Paul Getty and his mother, Sarah C. Getty. In the late 1930s these employees were transferred back to Skelly. The Gettys made a cash loan to Skelly Oil, and the company treasury held stock, and some of Mr. Skelly's stock was 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.
Skelly remained as CEO until his death in 1957, and Herndon remained executive vice president until his own death. Thereafter, Skelly executives remained as CEOs for another two decades.
In the late 1960s 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
rebrand
Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...
ed to Getty, then to
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company unt ...
after Getty was acquired by Texaco in 1984.
Revival
In 2012, Nimmons-Joliet Development Corp. acquired the rights to the Skelly brand logo and commenced operation of a new company utilizing the Skelly brand logo as a privately held company based in Texas.
References
{{reflist, 30em
Defunct oil companies of the United States
Companies based in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Defunct companies based in Oklahoma