Retro Road Maps: Conoco United States

Late 1940s Conoco United States Road Map

This is a Conoco road map design that was used in the late 1940s by the Continental Oil Company. Featured on the map is mention of the trademark “Touraide” travel service. Members of the Conoco Travel Club were eligible for a route planning service offered by Conoco, including free maps showing the layout of their trip. The illustration shows a ‘typical’ 1940s American family on one of these trips. The back of the road map provided an opportunity for Conoco to advertise one of their products, Conoco Super Motor Oil. This ad, like a lot of the Conoco  advertising of the time, features the friendly “Conoco Man”.

“Conoco” is the abbreviated name for the Continental Oil Co. Originally founded in 1875 in Ogden, Utah as a distributor of various fuels, including oil, coal and kerosene as well as grease and candles, the company was at first called the Continental Oil and Transportation Company. In 1929 the Marland Oil Company purchased a considerable number of company shares and the headquarters were moved to Oklahoma. Marland changed their name to the Continental Oil Co. and brought their red triangle logo with them to the reorganized company. This logo was used by Conoco from 1930 to 1970, until a new design was adopted. Conoco and Phillips 66 merged in 2002 and are now known as ConocoPhillips.