Premier Photos
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| Left, from John Cirillo | Middle, 40s/50s from David Aldred. | Right, 1960 from David Aldred |
A Premier sign at Aubrey, Texas.
Taken in March, 2005 by David Aldred.
A well-preserved Premier sign in Gordon. Texas.
Taken on May 24, 2005 by David Aldred.
Lollar's Premier, west of Lake Worth, TX on Jacksboro Highway.
Taken around 1984 by John Cirillo.
Premier's final logo for the years 1963 to 1983.
From David Aldred, Oct. 2003.
Premier/Freeway map. This was the last logo used by Premier stations
during their run as a DX subsidiary brand.
Freeway was used in areas outside Premier traditional marketing area.
From David Aldred, Oct. 2003.
A Premier oil can from David Aldred's collection.
This Premier sign stands just outside Ranger Texas. These signs can still be seen at
several abandoned locations along old route 80 between Longview and Abiliene.
The red logo seen here was used until about 1963 when DX and Vickers bought Premier.
They reversed the colors as seen in the other picture on this page, and used a white
sign with red letters through the sixties (these were either porcelain or
internally lit plastic, depending on the pre-existing sign). Around 1970, Vickers sold
their interest to DX and Premier began to use a red, white, and blue logo that was kept
until Mapco purchased the chain around 1983. The stations that were kept then converted
to the "Delta" name, at least in the Dallas/Ft. Worth (Texas) area. Eventually, these
were closed or sold off piecemeal. DX also used the name Freeway through the 70's for
lower volume DX stations, using the same logo design as the last Premier.
Freeway signs can still be spotted at abandoned stations in AR, MO, and MS at least.
From David Aldred, Oct. 2003.
A newer, digital close-up of the sign at the above Ranger, Texas location on
Old US 80. Taken May 24, 2005 by David Aldred.
Another old Premier sign near Ranger, Texas. This one is on the
west side of town, on old US 80. Taken May 24, 2005 by David Aldred.
Premier station in Rio Grande City, Texas. Taken Nov. 2003 by David Aldred.
Close-up of the sign at the above Rio Grande City, Texas site.
Premier sign (used from 1969 to 1983) on an abandoned station building.
Located on US 180 in Snyder, Texas. Photo taken in Feb. 2005 by David Aldred.
Some history on Premier from David Aldred:
Originally named Cen-Tex Oil, Premier was founded during the 1930's in East Texas. The home office
and main refinery were located in Longview, Texas with another large refinery added in Fort Worth
and two smaller ones in Arp and Baird, Texas which allowed the company to market over the majority
of Texas and parts of neighboring states as well. In later years, the Arp refinery was sold or
closed and one was added in Brownsville, TX to cover the southern portion of the state.
The original owner sold Premier in 1948, and after changing hands a couple of times, was
eventually purchased by a 50/50 partnership owned by DX and Vickers. Vickers sold their interest
around 1968 to DX and DX continued to operate Premier as "South Central Oil Company",
a subsidary operating under the names "Premier" and "Freeway".
Many of the Freeway stations were converted under-performing DX (and after 1969 Sunoco stations)
in the midwest and upper midwest, while the Premier stations pretty much consisted of the original
network in Texas with a few more in ARK, LA, OK, and NM. Sun Oil (who now owned DX) sold
South Central in 1974 to a company named Amtel, and the company continued on through the 1970's.
In the early 1980's, many of the southern stations were sold to Mapco and converted to 'Delta' stations,
while those remaining were sold off piecemeal through the rest of the 80's. Through the 1990's,
there were still some Premier branded stations operating around Texas, but as of this writing all
are gone to the best of this author's knowledge. As for signage, the Red Hexagon was used for
identification through the 40's and 50's up to about 1963 or so. At this time after the DX purchase,
the colors were reversed while the hexagon shape was retained. It appears that the company used
replacement porcelain for existing signs, and plastic neutral background for new signage...Replacing
these around 1970 with the final red-white-and-blue logo that was used until the brand went away.
Globes, maps, oil cans, etc. were produced and, while not extremely common, can be found with some looking.
David Aldred.