Paragon is a brand most of us are too young to remember.
Headquarters were in Toledo, Ohio. They operated from
1888 to 1929. Gulf bought them out in 1929.
Some information on Paragon at the time of
the buyout is detailed in Gulf's official first 50 year history book
entitled "Since Spindletop". Here's a passage from page 49 courtesy of Paul Granniss:
"Now negotiations with the Paragon Refining Company were completed,
and Gulf bought Paragon's facilities including 344 bulk and service
stations in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan and a refinery at Toledo.
The Toledo refinery was rebuilt to round out the midwestern manufacturing development.
The program's total cost in 1930 was more than $63,000,000, and $25,000,000 more was spent on it in 1931."
Some information on the number and stores and the locations are
described on the inside of Walt's 1928 map shown above.
Walt paraphrases that information:
"There is some good info on the inside of the map including a listing
of station locations in Toledo, Columbus and Cincinnati. They had 39 stations
in Toledo, 7 in Columbus and 6 in Cincinnati. There is also a list of other
cities and towns where they had stations (well over 300 of them) and the
towns are marked by red arrows. They marketed in a good portion of the state
except for the southeast. but they did not get into Cleveland, Akron or
Youngstown, however, they were in Canton and had a cluster of stations around
that area and up to in-between Akron and Youngstown."
Paragon Photos
A 1928 Paragon map cover from Walt Wimer.
A 1929 Paragon map cover from Walt Wimer.
Cover for a 1925 Paragon publication, from Robert Stephens.
Small photos of several Paragon stations,
from the above 1925 Paragon publication. From Robert Stephens.
A reproduction of a Paragon sign, from Robert Stephens.
And for those who haven't ever seen gasoline spelled as
gasolene, some companies once used this spelling.