Few maps were published
during the war years, 1943-45, to save paper needed by the
mushrooming federal government managing the war effort and also
because no one, except servicemen, traveled much.
|
1940
FREEDOM - RAND MCNALLY. The Freedom Oil Company was
located in (where else?) Freedom, Pennsylvania. It used
the logo of a bulldog on its maps. This copy needs a good
cleaning. |
|
1941
SUNOCO - RAND MCNALLY. Sunoco is based in Philadelphia
and ran a series of colorful historical covers like this
one from the early 1930's into the 40's. The Sun Oil
Company was founded by Robert Pew in 1886 and is one of
the oldest surviving oil companies; it is still a major
gasoline distributor in the east. |
|
1942
NATIONAL REFINING CO. - RAND MCNALLY. The National
Refining Company was founded in 1882 and was a large
refiner/marketer operating through the midwest and
eastern states and had a subsidiary that marketed in
parts of eastern Canada. During the fifties, National
Refining Company's United States operations were acquired
by Ashland. |
|
c1943
ESSO - GENERAL DRAFTING CO. This map is similar to the
1942 Esso map except it is not dated on the cover like
that one, and may have been issued early in 1943. Most
oil companies did not distribute maps during the war
years (1943-45). Esso distributed war theatre maps of
Europe and the Pacific also made by General Drafting Co.
The
Map Image
illustrates General Drafting
work in the 40's. |
|
1944
TEXACO - RAND MCNALLY. Few maps were published during WW2,
but this one has the Rand McNally code Z4215 indicating a
map issued in 1944 prepared from a 1942 base map. The 'paper
is precious' logo also indicates it was issued during the
war years. New York is on one side of the map and
Pennsylvania on the other. Texaco paired Pennsylvania
with New York, New Jersey, and Ohio on maps during the 40's.
|
|
1945
MARATHON - RAND MCNALLY. The map has the Rand McNally
code 453613V indicating a 1945 base year map. Whether it
was issued in 1945 is another question, however there are
no other dating references. The Marathon company was
based in Findley, Ohio. It was bought out by US Steel,
and then spun off again. |
|
1946
RICHFIELD - RAND MCNALLY. The Pennsylvania map
has the Rand McNally code 453613V and 1940 census data so
it is a 1945 base year map. However, the US map on the
verso is a 1946 map, so this road map was issued in 1946.
This particular one has a dirty cover. The Richfield Oil
Corporation merged with Atlantic in 1966 to form Atlantic
Richfield, later named ARCO. |
|
1947
CALSO - H. M. GOUSHA. This map includes New Jersey. Calso
is the trademark of the California Oil Co. who marketed
gas for Standard Oil of California as a subsidiary. In
the fifties, the logo was changed to Chevron. |
|
1948
PENNZOIL - H. M. GOUSHA. Pennzoil was an original
Pennsylvania oil fields company until it moved to Texas.
They continued to operate a refinery in Oil City, PA,
into the 1990's. The
Map Image
illustrates Gousha work in the
40's. |
|
1949
GULF - RAND MCNALLY. Gulf must have loved this 'film noir'
cover design, or were just trying to save money. They
used it for 10 years from the early 40's to early 50's. |