Dorri Partain
Contributor
How many miles can you drive between fuel-ups?
This handy mileage meter, compliments of your local Skelly gasoline dealer, makes it easy to calculate. Lining up the miles driven and the amount of gas used would determine the miles-per-gallon ratio.
The meter is composed of an outer dial that shows miles driven, from 100 to 950. The inner dial shows the number of gallons, from 4 to 39; the calculation would appear in a window in the inner dial. As an example, using 10 gallons and driving 300 miles, indicated the vehicle traveled 30 miles per gallon.
A chart on the backside made it possible for drivers to keep track of gallons purchased, date, miles driven, and miles per gallon.
The Skelly Oil Company was founded in 1919 by William G. Skelly (1878-1957) in Tulsa, Okla. Service stations spread across the midwest, with locations in 11 states including Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Minnesota.
Skelly Truck Stops dotted the interstate highways, featuring Skeltone and Keotane brand gasoline and Skelmark and Tagolene motor oils. Nickerson Farms, a popular roadside restaurant chain, also offered Skelly gasoline.
Another company division, Skelgas, marketed propane gas, and Skelgro offered a variety of fertilizer products.
Corporate offices were located in Tulsa, with a second location in Kansas City.
Following the Spanish styling of the Country Club Plaza, the Skelly Building dates to 1938 and was expanded in 1948 and 1955. Situated at 605 W. 47th St., the building tower still shows the original ornately tiled Skelly signage.
In 1977, the Skelly brand signs at service stations began coming down, to be replaced with Getty Oil signs. J. Paul Getty had obtained major interest in the company during the Great Depression but maintained the Skelly division with founder William Skelly as CEO.
In turn, Getty was bought out by Texaco, and all Getty signs switched to Texaco branding in 1984. Both Skelgas and Skelgro were sold to other companies specializing in those products.
The Skelly logo and brand name was purchased in 2012 by Nimmons-Joliet Development to market a line of motor oils and transmission fluids.
