Mo-Jo Photos

MO-JO was the brand of the Hi-Octane Terminal Co. which was a subsidiary of the Joe Hutchinson Distributing Co. of Panama City Florida. The MO-JO brand was marketed in Panhandle Florida and into southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia. In 1971 they reported having 100 branded outlets, 50 of which were "service stations". The other 50 we can assume were "mom & pop" stores that did not count as "service stations" by the then definition of the term by the US census. Broken down in 1971 there were 60 in Florida, 30 in Alabama and 10 in Georgia.

In August of 1972 the Hutchinson companies sold out to Crystal Oil Co., but to my knowledge the stations were never rebranded to CRYSTAL before that company got out of gasoline marketing a few years later. However, It is possible that some better sites did make the change, but unlikely with the 2nd & 3rd rate sites. Although the brand lasted at least a few sites into the mid-80s, it is unclear who owned it at that time. I rather suspect that it was Crystal USA, a Birmingham operation that kept the CRYSTAL brand going at least into the 1990s. Current status of either brand is unknown, since they do not list in the NPN and I have not seen an operating station since the 80s. I have seen closed abandoned CRYSTAL sites in places such as Anniston & Gadsden, Alabama in the mid-90s, so suspect the company has gone belly-up, although the brands might still appear at a couple of stations somewhere in Florida or Alabama.

TOP.......Somewhere in Panhandle Florida in 1960. My guess is that it was somewhere on US 90. This shows the older logo porcelain sign.
MIDDLE.....Phenix City, Alabama on Seale Road. Oct. 28, 1987. Quite a surprise when I saw this one in 1987, years after I thought the brand was gone!! Was it just an old station still using the brand, or was there still a company distributing under the MO-JO brand?? Never saw another one and this site was more of an garage/auto repair with gas pumps than a "service station".
BOTTOM......A pile of discarded onl MO-JO porcelain signs in Panama City that I accidentally found while taking a photo of a station across the street on Oct. 30, 1986. The sign collectors could have had a ball with these!! Wonder what happened to them??