Editing Citgo (section)

===Cities Service period===
[[File:Cities Service, 425 Grinnell St, Key West, FL.jpg|thumb|Cities Service station in Key West, Florida, in 1965.]]
[[File:Cities service newspaper ad.png|thumb|left|1922 newspaper ad promoting the new Cities Service Oils.]]
The company traces its heritage back to the early 1900s and oil entrepreneur [[Henry Latham Doherty]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/168035/Henry-L-Doherty |title=Henry L. Doherty |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |date=January 2, 2019 |access-date=2019-01-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 27, 1939 |title=HENRY L. DOHERTY, OIL MAN, DIES AT 69 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/12/27/archives/henry-l-doherty-oil-man-dies-at-69-organized-the-cities-service.html |access-date=December 3, 2024 |website=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last= |date=1940-01-08 |title=UTILITIES: Death in Philadelphia |url=https://time.com/archive/6762529/utilities-death-in-philadelphia/ |access-date=2024-12-03 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref> After quickly climbing the ladder of success in the manufactured gas and [[electricity|electric]] [[utility]] world, Doherty in 1910 created '''Cities Service Company''' to supply gas and electricity to small public utilities.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Henry L. and Grace Doherty Visiting Professorship |url=https://www.fit.edu/giving/what-to-support/scholarships-and-endowments/scholarship-information/name-75499-en.php |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=www.fit.edu}}</ref> He began by acquiring gas-producing properties in the mid-continent and southwest.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Weaver |first=Bobby D. |title=Cities Service Company |url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=CI006 |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=Oklahoma Historical Society |language=en-us}}</ref>

The company then developed a [[pipeline transport|pipeline]] system, tapping dozens of [[natural gas field|gas pools]]. To make this gas available to consumers, Doherty moved to acquire distributing companies and tied them into a common source of supply. Cities Service became the first company in the mid-continent to use the slack demand period of summer to refill depleted fields near its market areas. Thus, gas could be conveniently and inexpensively withdrawn during peak demand times. In 1931, Cities Service completed the nation's first long-distance high-pressure natural gas transportation system, a 24-inch pipeline 1,000 miles long from [[Amarillo, Texas]] to [[Chicago]].

A logical step in the company's program for finding and developing supplies of natural gas was its entry into the oil business. This move was marked by major discoveries at [[Augusta, Kansas]], in 1914, and in El Dorado a year later. In 1928, a Cities Service subsidiary, [[Barnsdall Main Street Well Site#Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company|Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company]], discovered the [[Oklahoma City]] field,<ref name="OHS">{{cite web|url= https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=IN019 | title=Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company|publisher=Bobby D. Weaver, Oklahoma Historical Society|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> one of the world's largest. Another participated in the discovery of the East Texas field, which, in its time, was the most sensational on the globe.

Over three decades, the company sponsored the ''[[Cities Service Concerts]]'' on [[NBC]] radio. The long run of these musical broadcasts was heard on NBC from 1925 to 1956, encompassing a variety of vocalists and musicians. In 1944, it was retitled ''Highways in Melody'', and later the series was known as ''The Cities Service Band of America''.  In 1964, the company moved its headquarters from [[Bartlesville, Oklahoma|Bartlesville]], [[Oklahoma]], to [[Tulsa]].

At the height of Cities Service's growth, Congress passed the [[Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935]], which forced the company to divest itself of either its utility operations or its oil and gas holdings. Cities Service elected to remain in the petroleum business. The first steps to liquidate investments in its public utilities were taken in 1943 and affected over 250 different utility corporations.

At the same time, the government was nearing completion of a major refinery at Rose Bluff just outside [[Lake Charles, Louisiana]], which would become the foundation of the company's manufacturing operation. Using designs developed by Cities Service and the Kellogg Co., the plant was dedicated only 18 months after groundbreaking. A month before Allied troops landed in [[Normandy landings|France]], it was turning out enough 100-[[octane]] [[aviation fuel|aviation gasoline]] to fuel 1,000 daily [[Strategic bombing during World War II|bomber]] sorties from [[England]] to [[Germany]]. Government funding through the [[Defense Plant Corporation]] (DPC) also prompted Cities Service to build plants to manufacture [[butadiene]], used to make [[synthetic rubber]], and [[toluene]], a fuel octane booster and solvent.

[[File:Citgo-Petrol Station.jpg|thumb|Gas station in Bergen, NY]]
In the years that followed, Cities Service grew into a fully diversified oil and gas company with global operations. Its green, expanding circle marketing logo became a familiar sight across much of the nation. During this time CEOs such as [[W. Alton Jones]] and [[Burl S. Watson]] ran the company.

Cities Service Company inaugurated use of the Citgo brand in 1965 (officially styled "CITGO") for its refining, marketing and retail petroleum businesses (which became known internally as the RMT Division, for Refining, Marketing and Transportation). CITGO continued to be only a trademark, and not a company name, until the 1983 sale of what had been the RMT Division of Cities Service to Southland Corporation (now [[7-Eleven|7-Eleven Inc.]]).