It took two decades from Gottlieb Daimler's 1885 invention of what is generally recognized as the prototype of the modern gas engine for the first gas station to open. In the ensuing 100-plus years there have been a number of developments that have helped shape the petroleum marketing industry to what it is today.

1905: In St. Louis, Automobile Gasoline Co., a subsidiary of Shell of California, opens what is believed to be the first gas station in St. Louis in 1905. Some other accounts suggest that the first gas station was opened by SOCAL in Seattle in 1907. At these early stations, shopkeepers would fill a five-gallon can from behind the store and bring it to the customer’s car to fill it. 

1908: While there are already approximately 300,000 automobiles on the road, the introduction of the first affordable Model T leads to a rapid growth in automobile sales within several years.

1911: The U.S. Supreme Court declares John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust to be an “unreasonable” monopoly. The trust, which controlled much of the production, transport, refining and marketing of petroleum products in the United States, is broken up into a number of distinct companies, including:

• Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio), now part of BP
• Standard Oil of Indiana (Stanolind), renamed Amoco, now part of BP
• Standard Oil of New York (Socony), merged with Vacuum, renamed Mobil, now part of ExxonMobil
• Standard Oil of New Jersey (Esso), renamed Exxon, now part of ExxonMobil
• Standard Oil of California (Socal), renamed Chevron, now part of ChevronTexaco
• Atlantic and Richfield, merged to form Atlantic Richfield (Arco), now part of BP (Atlantic operations were spun off and bought by Sunoco)
• Standard Oil of Kentucky (Kyso) was acquired by Standard Oil of California, now part of ChevronTexaco
• Continental Oil Company (Conoco) is now part of ConocoPhillips

1913: Gulf Refining Co. opens what is believed to be the nation's first drive-up service station on December 1 in Pittsburgh. On its first day it sells 30 gallons of gasoline at 27 cents per gallon. This is also the first architect-designed station and the first to distribute free road maps.

1916: The first canopy is introduced, as Standard Oil of Ohio unveils a prefabricated canopy prototype.

1927: The Southland Ice Company introduces the first convenience store in May in Dallas. “Uncle Johnny” Jefferson Green, who ran the Southland Ice Dock in Oak Cliff, realized that customers sometimes needed to buy things such as bread, milk and eggs after the local grocery stores were closed. Unlike the local grocery stores, his store was already open 16 hours a day, seven days a week, so he decided to stock a few of those staples in addition to items he was already offering.

Late 1920s: By the end of the decade, 24-hour service stations already are in operation, serving the needs of, among others, the commercial trucking industry. The first 24-hour convenience store didn’t open until 1961.

1932: Congress enacts the first excise tax on gasoline on June 21, a one-cent-per-gallon tax, with the proceeds going into the general fund. Since 1997, the federal tax on gasoline has been 18.4 cents per gallon, with the bulk of revenues going to the highway account. Virtually every state already had its own additional gasoline tax at this time; the first state gasoline taxes go back to the 1910s.

1947: Frank Ulrich opens the first modern self-serve gas station, at the corner of Jilson and Atlantic in Los Angeles. (The 20-store Hoosier Petroleum Co. tried self-serve in 1930 but the state fire marshal stopped it, calling it a fire hazard.) With the slogan “Save 5 cents, serve yourself, why pay more?” Ulrich’s station sells more than 500,000 gallons its first month. A number of other independent stations begin to offer self serve, primarily in California, the Southwest and the Southeast, but the total number of stations offering self serve remain less than 3,000 until the early 1970s. By 1973, self-serve was permitted in 42 states. In addition, the 1973 energy crisis helped spur consumer demand for self-service, which is now available in 48 states. (New Jersey and Oregon still require full-service operations – New Jersey’s law was enacted in 1949; Oregon’s in 1951.)

1950: Frank McNamara and Ralph Schneider introduce the concept of a credit card with their Diners Club Card. In 1958, American Express and BankAmericard are introduced. Today, an estimated two-thirds of all gasoline purchases at convenience stores are paid by plastic.

1960: OPEC – the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries – is founded by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The five founding members were later joined by Qatar (1961), Indonesia (1962), Socialist Peoples Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1962), United Arab Emirates (1967), Algeria (1969), Nigeria (1971). Ecuador (1973-1992) and Gabon (1975-1994) also were OPEC members.

1973: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issues regulations calling for the incremental reduction of tetraethyl lead (TEL) in gasoline. TEL had helped reduce engine knock and spurred the way for the development of high-power, high-compression engines. Starting with the 1975 model year, U.S. automakers respond by equipping new cars with pollution-reducing catalytic converters designed to run only on unleaded fuel.

1973: OPEC announces an oil embargo against countries (including the United States) that supported Israel during the October 1973 Yom Kippur War. Arab nations cut production by 5 million barrels per day, but increased production in other countries adds 1 million barrels of day back into the system. Still, the net loss of 4 million barrels a day represents 7 percent of the free world production and causes oil prices to shoot up from $3.01 to $11.65 per barrel by December. The combination of short supply and price controls initiated by President Nixon to control inflation lead to the closing of thousands of stations. By March 1974, the embargo ends and the shortage abates.

1974: A national speed limit of 55 miles per hour is enacted (some states are later permitted to increase the limit to 65 MPH on rural interstates). Ten years later, Sammy Hagar's song, “I Can’t Drive 55” is a hit. In 1995, President Clinton signs a bill lifting federal control over speed limits. Today some states have speed limits of as much as 75 MPH.

1976: The last major grassroots refinery in the United States is built in Garyville, Louisiana.

1977: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil, is established. As of January 2008, it held approximately 698 million barrels of oil in underground salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana.

1979-81: In February 1979, the revolution in Iran begins, and in November the U.S. Embassy in Iran is stormed and hostages are taken. Midway through the year, Saudi Arabia cuts production and the price of crude oil soars. The Iran/Iraq war also reduces production in both countries. The world price of crude oil jumps from around $14 per barrel at the beginning of 1979 to more than $35 per barrel in January 1981 (approximately $80 in today's dollars, adjusted for inflation) before stabilizing. Gasoline prices peak in March 1981 at $1.42 per gallon, which, adjusted for inflation, is about $3 per gallon. 

1981: The U.S. Government responds to the oil crisis by removing price and allocation controls on the oil industry. For the first time since the early 1970s, market forces replaced regulatory programs and domestic crude oil prices were allowed to rise to a market-clearing level. Decontrol also set the stage for the relaxation of export restrictions on petroleum products.

1986: Pay-at-the-pump is introduced, with dispensers featuring a built-in credit/debit card reader system. Only 13 percent of convenience stores have the technology by 1994, but 80 percent of convenience stores are using the technology by 2002. In 2004, Sheetz is the first to use touch-screen kiosks at the pump where customers can also order in-store foodservice items that they pick up after fueling.

1988: Underground storage tank (UST) regulations are passed, requiring all operators to upgrade their storage tank systems with spill-prevention and leak-detection equipment within a decade. While convenience store owners invest millions of dollars to ensure that their underground storage tanks are compliant with current regulations, many local, state and federal government owners and operators, as well as some tribes and commercial fleets, continue to dispense fuel from non-compliant tanks.

1990: Congress passes the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, which contain six provisions to be implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in stages between November 1, 1992, and January 1, 2000. Among the provisions is one for the Reformulated Gasoline Program, requiring the most polluted metropolitan areas, representing more than one-fifth of the nation’s population, to sell a reformulated gasoline; other areas may “opt in” to the program by applying to the EPA. This program introduces into widespread use the additives MTBE and ethanol to satisfy the oxygen content requirement.

1990-91: In August 1990, Iraq invades Kuwait. The United Nations approves an embargo on all crude oil and products originating from either Iraq or Kuwait, creating concern over supply shortages that leads to a run-up in crude oil prices. Within a month, the price of crude oil climbs from about $16 per barrel to more than $28 per barrel. The price escalates to a high of about $36 per barrel in September 1990. The Gulf War begins in January 1991, but by then oil prices had already stabilized.

Early 1990s: Hypermarkets selling fuel begin to make inroads in the United States as H-E-B is among the stores selling fuel in the Southwest. Interestingly, the concept was first introduced to the United States in the 1960s when a number of supermarket chains and retailers like Sears tried to sell fuel, but it did not generate sufficient consumer interest.  Wal-Mart is the largest hypermarket selling fuel, with about 1,100 locations offering fueling. Today there are more than 4,300 hypermarket stores selling fuel, representing an estimated 14.2 billion gallons sold each year.

1996: Wallis Companies, a convenience store chain based in Cuba, MO, serves as the test market for the introduction of Speedpass. In tests, Speedpass reduced the average three- to four-minute fueling time by 30 seconds. Within five years, more than 5 million customers were considered regular Speedpass users at Mobil or Exxon-branded stations.

1999: Consolidation of the industry begins with the merger of British Petroleum and Amoco, and, later that year, Exxon and Mobil. In 2001, Chevron and Texaco merged, and Conoco and Phillips merged in 2002.

2001: Terrorists strike the United States on September 11. The market reacts to a rapid decline in demand for crude oil and petroleum products prompted by reduced air traffic. Crude oil prices drop from nearly $28 per barrel on September 7 to $17.50 on November 15. Gasoline prices, likewise, drop from $1.52 per gallon on September 10 to $1.06 December 17, with many areas of the country seeing gasoline prices under $1.00 per gallon.

2002-03: A general strike in Venezuela beginning on December 2, 2002, deprives the United States of a critical source of imported crude oil and refined petroleum product for several months. (Venezuela supplied approximately 8 percent of total U.S. petroleum products.) Crude oil prices increase from a pre-strike level of $26.83 to a mid-February 2003 level of $35.50 per barrel. Domestic crude oil stocks drop to their lowest level since October 1975. Meanwhile, gasoline prices increase from $1.36 per gallon for the week the strike begins to $1.73 per gallon by mid-March 2003.

2004: Crude oil prices hit a then-record high of more than $55 per barrel in October. High crude oil prices throughout the year help lead to record prices at the pump, and gasoline prices peak at $2.06 per gallon weekly national average on May 24.

2005: Gasoline prices experience a seasonal peak on April 11 when prices reach a then-record $2.28 per gallon. Gasoline prices fall for the next six weeks as oil prices drop. However, oil prices climb again in May, and gasoline prices follow suit. Oil prices hit a record $70.85 per barrel on August 30 following Hurricane Katrina, and retail gasoline prices also rise, peaking at a record $3.07 per gallon for the week of September 5.

2006: Gasoline prices begin to take off in April with the rapid elimination of MTBE as a fuel additive, and diesel fuel is affected by the transition to Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel. Crude oil prices again rise, hitting a record $78.40 per barrel on July 14. Gasoline prices hit a weekly high of $3.00 per gallon on August 7. Also, more nontraditional fuel retailers begin selling fuel, including a drug store chain in upstate New York and The Home Depot in Tennessee.

2007: Both gasoline and oil prices hit new highs. Gasoline prices peak at $3.209 per gallon on May 28. Meanwhile, oil prices climb later that summer topping $80 per barrel for the first time on September 13. They continue to increase for the rest of the year, flirting with $100 (futures on Nymex peak at $99.29 on November 21) before retreating.

2008: Oil prices briefly top $100 per barrel in midday trading on January 3 ($100.09), but within three weeks dropped to the mid $80s. Oil and gasoline prices continue to climb throughout the spring and summer. Oil peaks at $147.27 a barrel on July 11. On July 17, gasoline ($4.11) and diesel ($4.85) hit record highs. Just as analysts predict even higher prices, the economic meltdown occurs and prices plummet. Oil drops more than $100 a barrel and gas prices bottom out at $1.61 a gallon by December. In June, ExxonMobil announces it will sell its retail assets, and ConocoPhillips makes a similar announcement in August, joining BP, which in 2007 announced it was getting out of retail. This leaves ChevronTexaco and Shell as the only integrated oil companies still planning to sell motor fuels at the retail level.