Texas Corn Chips

Fritos brand corn chips was created in 1932 by Charles E. Doolin of San Antonio, Texas. Due to improvements in technology, production of Fritos corn chips increased from ten pounds to 100 pounds by 1933. With the company's move to Dallas in 1937, it opened a research and development lab and introduced new products. After Doolin's death in 1959, The Frito Company produced over forty products, had plants in eighteen cities, employed over 3,000 people, and had sales in 1958 in excess of $50 million. In 1965, The Frito Company and H.W. Lay & Company joined to become Frito-Lay, Inc., which in turn merged with PepsiCo, Inc. Frito-Lay created new snack foods like its most popular, Doritos, in 1966, Funyuns in 1969, and Munchos in 1971. More on the complete Fritos history here.

Put A Tiger In Your Tank

The Humble Oil Company can trace its origins to an oil gusher strike in 1901, initiating the Texas oil rush. Humble was founded in 1911 in Humble, Texas with a confusing array of names for different areas of the United States thanks to the break up of Standard Oil Company by The Sherman Antitrust Act. Forty-eight years later, Standard Oil of New Jersey acquired the company. Humble struggled for decades with what single brand name to use until 1972 when they chose Exxon. 

Humble first began marketing gasoline nationwide under two different names. First was Enco, a secondary retail brand in certain parts of the United States from 1960 to 1977, and a second brand, Esso, a concocted name for ExxonMobil, brought about by the merger between Exxon and Mobil (Standard Oil of New York) in 1999. The Enco brand was introduced by Humble in the summer of 1960 but the brand was not used in Ohio because of trademark infringement claims made by Sohio (Standard Oil Company of Ohio). Exxon later withdrew from Ohio entirely by the end of the decade except for Southeast Ohio and Columbus.

Humble's Esso brand had a successful advertising campaign in the 1960s and 1970s with, "Put A Tiger In Your Tank" featuring an oversized, illustrated tiger sitting upon or beside an automobile. Some fans took to placing a small, cuddly tiger tail under their gas cap filler door. For a thoroughly confusing Humble history, you might want to read this.

Note the 1959 Chevrolet and 1960 Dodge Dart above

The Last Peacemaker

 

On this day in 1954, the last Convair B-36, B-36J-10-CF 53-2827, a Featherweight III variant, completed assembly at the Convair Division of General Dynamics plant at Fort Worth, Texas. The Convair B-36J was one of 14 Featherweight III high-altitude variants. It was built without the six retractable defensive gun turrets of the standard model, retaining only the two 20 mm autocannons in the tail. All aft bunk beds, kitchen, and sound insulation were also removed. It enabled the bomber to fly well above 50,000' if needed, an astounding height at the time for the largest-ever bomber. 2827 was retired five years later. After renovations in Fort Worth, the plane was eventually sent to Tucson, Arizona for complete restoration. It is now on display at the Pima Air and Space Museum.

Note: The "Peacemaker" name was submitted in a contest to name the plane when it first went into service in 1948. Though often referred to today in publications, the name was never officially adopted by the United States Air Force.

Record Breaker

 

On this date in 1956, the first prototype XB-58, serial number 55-0660, made its first flight at Fort Worth, Texas, with Convair’s Chief Test Pilot, Beryl Arthur Erickson. The B-58 Hustler served with the United States Air Force as a Mach 2 strategic bomber with the singular purpose of delivering an atomic weapon from a high altitude. It was crewed by a pilot, navigator/bombardier, and a defensive systems operator, located in individual cockpits. Due to advancements in ground-to-air and air-to-air missiles, a higher than average accident rate, and perhaps political decisions, the 116 aircraft only served from 1960 to 1970. Other than the museum samples, all were sent to Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona for long-term storage, though none were brought back to serve. Other than its beautifully aggressive design, the Hustler remains best known for setting numerous speed records.

The Texas Company

 

On this day in 1902, Texaco (The Texas Company) was founded in Beaumont, Texas as the Texas Fuel Company. The star arrived in 1903 when a 19-year-old Italian refinery worker suggested we embrace the five-pointed symbol of Texas. He later added a green "T", perhaps influenced by the Italian flag colors. In 1931, Texaco purchased Indian Oil Company, expanding their refining and marketing base in the Midwest and gave Texaco the rights to Indian's Havoline motor oil, which became a Texaco product. 

In 1959, Texaco, Inc. was formed from the assets of Texas Fuel assets, and additional capitalization. Legend has it that a salesman saw the portmanteau "Texaco" in a telegram and the name stuck. By 2001, Texaco became an oil subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, at which time most of its station franchises were divested to the Shell Oil Company. A midwesterner may have noted the subsequent proliferation of Shell stations with an abrupt absence of Texaco.