# 76 Gas Stations **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-gas-stations/256398 "2004-07-22T19:45:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fatmcerlean78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9de053/32.png) [@fatmcerlean78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fatmcerlean78)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-gas-stations/256398/1 "2004-07-22T19:45:38Z")
have always wondered what the significance of the number 76 is in the name of those gas stations - Is it the years the compant was started?, the price of gas at the time? (it would be a while back!!) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-gas-stations/256398/2 "2004-07-22T19:57:00Z")
Neither. The 76 brand was started in the ‘30s [Unocal](http://www.unocal.com/aboutucl/history/index.htm) was founded in 1890. I don’t know if it can be verified but it’s likely that the founders’ Pennsylvanian origins had something to do with the number. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-gas-stations/256398/3 "2004-07-22T20:43:45Z")
The Conoco-Philips site is no help. 76 was originally a brand name for Union Oil. Perhaps Union 76 had a patriotic ring to it. Pure speculation. ---
**Author:** ![PussyCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@PussyCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PussyCow)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-gas-stations/256398/4 "2004-07-22T20:44:43Z")
> [@Jeff Olsen](#): > > I don’t know if it can be verified but it’s likely that the founders’ Pennsylvanian origins had something to do with the number. As in 1776? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-gas-stations/256398/5 "2004-07-22T21:01:49Z")
> [@PussyCow](#): > > As in 1776? Well, that does figure into the name of the Philadelphia basketball team. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-gas-stations/256398/6 "2004-07-22T21:34:46Z")
From [www.76.com](http://www.76.com) “For more than 100 years, the 76 brand, with its distinctive ball icon, has been providing high-performance petroleum products and excellent customer service. The origin and heritage of the 76 brand can be traced back to the small town of Santa Paula, CA, where in 1890, Lyman Stewart co-founded the Union Oil Company of California. Today, the 76 Gasoline brand is owned by ConocoPhillips and 76 Gasoline is sold at more than 2,700 retail fuel sites in the United States.” So, all we need now is a time machine, then we can go back to 1890, in Santa Paula, and ask Lyman Stewart how he came up with the number… ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-gas-stations/256398/7 "2004-07-22T23:45:16Z")
According to the company’s corporate history “Sign of the 76” published in 1976, asking Lyman Stewart wouldn’t help. The name wasn’t thought up until 1931. > [@](#): > > The marketing department decided that this fine new product should have a distinctive name. After spirited discussions, the advertising meeting seeking an easily remembered name decided upon 76, the suggestion of Robert D. Matthews, the persuasive young Welshman who had been boning up on American history to qualify for his citizenship papers. Matthews full of the spirit of '76, which by chance coincided with the highest octane rating that Union refineries were then able to achieve … There is more info about how the initial request for a trademark of 76 was turned down because the PTO thought that people would think it was a trademark for the octane rating, which you couldn’t get. California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona registered it on a state level, but a Federal trademark wasn’t granted until 1950.