Which company set up the first drive-in filling station?
Sophia Koch
Updated on January 08, 2026
Gulf Refining Company
Louis two years earlier, most agree that when “Good Gulf Gasoline” went on sale, Gulf Refining Company opened America’s first true drive-in service station. The motoring milestone took place at the corner of Baum Boulevard and St. Clair Street in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on December 1, 1913.
Which city claims the first drive-in filling station?
Pittsburgh
The first “drive-in” filling station, Gulf Refining Company, opened to the motoring public in Pittsburgh on December 1, 1913, at Baum Boulevard and St Clair’s Street. Prior to this, automobile drivers pulled into almost any general or hardware store, or even blacksmith shops in order to fill up their tanks.
Who started gas stations?
1947: Frank Urich opens the first modern self-serve gas station, at the corner of Jilson and Atlantic in Los Angeles, California.
What is the oldest gas station in America?
Reighard’s
Reighard’s, 3205 Sixth Avenue, Altoona, Pennsylvania, has been in continuous operation since 1909, making it “America’s Oldest Gas Station”.
What was the first gas station ever?
On December 1st 1913 Gulf Refining Company opened the world’s first drive-in gas station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Until then, drivers got their gas at general stores, hardware shops, even soon-to-be-obsolete blacksmiths. The station offered free air, water, crankcase service, and tire and tube installation.
Is it fueling or filling station?
A filling station, fueling station, garage, gasbar, gas station, petrol bunk or petrol pump, petrol garage, petrol station, service station, or servo, is a facility which sells fuel and usually lubricants for motor vehicles. Fuel dispensers are also known as bowsers, petrol pumps or gas pumps.
What was the 1st gas station?
1909 – The oldest existing gas station in the United States is Reighard’s Gas Station in Altoona, Pennsylvania. 1913 – The Gulf Refining Company opened the world’s first drive-in gas station at the corner of Baum Boulevard and St. Clair’s Street.
When was pay at the pump invented?
The system was introduced in 1982 in Europe, and was first used in the United States by Mobil in 1986. Only 13 percent of convenience stores had the technology by 1994, but 80 percent of U.S. convenience stores used the technology by 2002, and virtually all U.S. stores do today.
Why is it called gas station?
In a lot of organic chemistry, -ene or -ine is used (think benzene/benzine), and so the part of the petroleum distilled-off and used in motor vehicles was the part of highest volatility, and in time was dubbed gasoline.
What is the oldest gas company?
Offshore-technology lists the longest running oil and gas companies based on the year of establishment. Whessoe was founded in 1790 by William Kitching and Sons in Darlington, UK.
Where was the first drive in gas station?
Less than two decades later, the first purposely built drive-in gasoline service station opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Bowser’s invention, which could reliably measure and dispense kerosene – a product that had been in demand for half a century – soon evolved into the metered gasoline pump.
Where was the first self service gas station?
The first self-service station in the United States was in Los Angeles, opened in 1947 by Frank Urich. In Canada, the first self-service station opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1949. It was operated by the independent company Henderson Thriftway Petroleum, owned by Bill Henderson.
When did Standard Oil Control the oil market?
By the late 19th century, Standard Oil controlled 80 percent of America’s oil transportation markets, and oil was too important a resources to be so firmly in the hands of just one private company, reformers thought.
When did Standard Oil start using the Esso brand?
History. It also used the Esso brand in New York and the six New England states, where the Standard Oil Company of New York ( Socony-Vacuum, later Socony Mobil) had the rights, but did not object to the New Jersey company’s use of the trademark [citation needed] (the two companies did not merge until November 1999 ).