Red Head Gas Station Photos
Red Head station on US 62, south end of Millersburg, Ohio.
Taken Sept. 15, 2003 by Walt Wimer.
Closer shot of the above Red Head station in Millersburg, Ohio.
Taken Sept. 15, 2003 by Walt Wimer.
Walt's notes on this station and the Red Head brand:
RED HEAD was a long time Ohio Private Brand that dated back to at least the
early 30s. They were successful for many years but finally sold out to
Ashland Oil (early 70s??) Ashland continued the brand but the better sites
were rebuilt into SUPERAMERICA station/stores and the brand was all but gone
by the time of the Ashland-Marathon joint venture in marketing.
Apparently what has happened here is that Ashland has sold off a pocket of
smaller stations to an individual in central Ohio that has also bought the
rights to the brand name or at least been licensed by Ashland to use it.
There are about a half-dozen stations, all in a rather rural/small town area
of central Ohio between Columbus and Canton and about due south of Wooster,
where Red Head Oil company was based for many years. In addition to this
station in Millersburg, there is a second one there that is dual branded
with CITGO and a station in Coshocton. (I wonder if the one with CITGO
belonged to the current owner before he bought the RED HEAD sites and that
he just put RED HEAD on the station building afterwards, as it was not an
original RED HEAD station?)
The fact that the RED HEAD brand survives, even in a very small way,
is good news for most of us into collecting gas/oil items of the past!!
The station above is located on U.S. 62 on the south end of town and one of
the employees told me it was the only "full serve" station the
company has. You can see him and another fellow servicing a car in the photo.
Red Head station at 408 S. Main, Butler, PA in the 1940s.
The building on the right is Butler Motor Company, a Ford dealer,
which remains a Ford dealer as of 2003.
From Walt Wimer, Oct. 27, 2003.
Another shot of the Butler, PA location in the 1940s.
Here is a classic shot with the attendants in their military-style uniforms.
From Walt Wimer, Oct. 27, 2003.
Nighttime shot of the Butler, PA location, sometime in the 1940s.
From Walt Wimer, Oct. 27, 2003.
Walt's comments on this station:
This was the station at 408 S. Main St. in Butler, PA that you will find
listed on many RED HEAD maps. The site is still an active gas station after
more than 60 years and two rebuilds. To the best that I can determine from
the city directories and my old maps, the station was built around 1940-41.
Red Head Oil was rather unique in that they were one of the few independent
chains that offered lube and oil change service. They had no lift, but a pit
inside the bays, but everything was kept spotless as I remember it from my
grade school days. After Ashland Oil bought the RED HEAD chain (early 70S ??)
they got out of the lube and oil change business and tore the original
building down, replacing it with a "gas only" building like most
independents used. Then in in 1988 they tore it down again and replaced it
with a SUPERAMERICA C-store. After the Marathon-Ashland joint venture it
became a SPEEDWAY for about a year, but then Speedway-Superamerica decided
they didn't want to own the handful of western PA sites that were part of
Ashland, so they sold them off to a local 7-Eleven franchise.
The site continues today as a 7-ELEVEN store with MARATHON gasoline.