This New England road map is from the mid-1950s. It was distributed by the Atlantic Refining Company that was founded in 1865. It became a subsidiary of Standard Oil in 1874, until it was made independent again in 1911 when anti-trust laws were passed. Atlantic Refining merged with the Richfield Oil Corporation in 1966, and eventually became the company known as ARCO.

There is a shield on the front of the map, which says “Atlantic Imperial”. Imperial was the name under which Atlantic sold their hi-test gasoline. The illustrations, both front and back on this map, are great retro images showing a 50s style gas station, uniformed station attendant and automobile.

This road map dates to the mid-1940s. It was produced for the Richfield Oil Corporation and distributed at Richfield filling stations to their customers. They have beautiful illustrations, both front and back, that include elements of days gone by. There are cars from the 1940s, as well as a uniformed service attendant. Also worthy of note is the art deco style service station building. These were full-service stations where you could not only get gas, but also have your car worked on, buy oil or a tire—unlike today’s stations.

Richfield Oil was founded in 1905. In 1966 Richfield merged with Atlantic Refining Company and formed the Atlantic Richfield Corporation. In the early 1970s the name changed to ARCO (an acronym for Atlantic Richfield).