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Re: Return to Richmond's Unsolved Mysteries
Author: Dr Zarkoff
Date: 01-12-2021 - 16:56
> SO yard or Esso yard.
Not "ESSO", which is an east coast company (formerly SoCoNJ), but "SO" which is/was short for "Standard Oil Company of California" (SoCal). When ESSO branched out to the west coast it used the name ENCO (out west) because the court decision breaking up Rockefeller's Standard Oil forbid the use of "SO" or any similar sounding name or abbreviation on a nationwide basis by any company. The refinery in Benicia was built by Humble/ESSO and quickly became "ENCO", until ENCO discovered that the name in Japanese means "car won't go". So after a computer aided search, they changed to "EXXON", a word which at the time didn't exist in any known language. Valero bought the refinery in 2000.
Not "ESSO", which is an east coast company (formerly SoCoNJ), but "SO" which is/was short for "Standard Oil Company of California" (SoCal). When ESSO branched out to the west coast it used the name ENCO (out west) because the court decision breaking up Rockefeller's Standard Oil forbid the use of "SO" or any similar sounding name or abbreviation on a nationwide basis by any company. The refinery in Benicia was built by Humble/ESSO and quickly became "ENCO", until ENCO discovered that the name in Japanese means "car won't go". So after a computer aided search, they changed to "EXXON", a word which at the time didn't exist in any known language. Valero bought the refinery in 2000.
