A look at businesses that once existed or still do in some cases. If you happen to see this, you are getting a bonus preview, as it is currently under construction and therefore incomplete. More names will be added, as well as additional information about the ones currently listed as it becomes available.
W. F. Abney & Sons Drilling Company
W. F. Abney & Sons Drilling Company
Acorn Rig and Construction Company
Shreveport Times 05-Jul-1953, Page 7-C
Derrick construction.
Shop and employees
Source: Elsie Densmore Rathbun
Shreveport Times 20-Jul-1953, Page 3-B
W. C. "Dub" Allen & Sons
Currently in business for over 60 years.
Shreveport Times 20-Oct-1956, Page 7-C
Anderson Gulf Service Station
The area's deputy sheriff for many years, William H. "Bill" Anderson (189?-1969) was also in the real estate business.
Shreveport Times 22-Oct-1969, Page 12-A
Shreveport Times 22-Feb-1947, Page 14
Apothecary Shop
Owned by Ben Humphrey.
G. M. Bagley, Teaming and Trucking Contractor
Barnett's Grocery/Tiger Mart/Gusher Mart
Mr. ? Keen owned Tiger Mart.
Joe & Gloria Asbell owned Gusher Mart.
Bateman Pump & Supply Company
Bartley Joe Batts, Entrepreneur
Bartley Joe (1944-2018) was the son of Dennis and Nellie Tolbert Batts. He attended Oil City Jr. High and North Caddo High School.
Per son, Roger Batts : "Mom (wife Shirley Broome Batts) thinks the gas station Dad had that was across from where PBE is, and where Uncle Rusty had the Rusty Bucket, was a Citgo. She doesn’t remember what he called it. It would have been either Bartley’s Citgo, BJ’s Citgo, or Oil City Citgo. That would have been late 60’s, early 70’s. He also sold used cars at the house (Bartley’s Auto Sales) when we lived next door to Oil City UPC until he opened North Highlands Amoco, which later became BJ’s Quick Stop at North Market and Ravendale (Now the location of Valvoline Instant Oil Change). He was there from around 1978 to 1985.
January, 1986, he opened BJ’s Texaco in Vivian next to where The Tobacco House is currently. We moved up the street next to the driver’s license office in 1988 where The Station is now. In 1991, he sold the Texaco station, and purchased his first dump truck to start BJ Batts Dump Truck Service, which he ran until his health started failing in 2017. Mom and Dad also had the Oil City Restaurant for a couple of years during that time."
Bartley passed away 12-Sep-2018 and is buried in Lakeview Memorial Gardens; Oil City, LA.
Boyter's Garage
Was on the corner of Highway 1 and Weaver Loop.
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| L-R: Dood (Boyd Leslie Boyter, Sr.), Buck (Clarence Ottis Boyter, Dood's half-brother), John McKinney, Buster (Gyron Marvin Gant, Jr.) |
Picture Source: Michael Boyter, Names per Ellen Dawn Stevens
The man at the far right is identified as "Buster" in the picture, and a Boyter family member stated it was Gyron M. "Buster" Gant. However, upon comparing with a photo of Henry Hughes (at right), who worked for the Boyters at the garage around that time, it appears to be him. he did not go by "Buster" however.
Brumley's Barber Shop
Buckelew's Grocery
Butler & Sons
Caddo Oil Company
Around 1945 or 1946 D. A. Raymond, Jr. bought two oil leases, along with some equipment and buildings from a Mr. C.W. Brown and started Caddo Oil Co. In the late 1940s he acquired more leases and also equipment and buildings from Davis and Hart. This was the warehouse and office located at "The Camp" on the Belcher Road, northeast of Oil City. In the following years Mr. Raymond continued to expand the company until by the early 70s it included three separate "yards" or buildings and land for storing pipe and other supplies and equipment in the Oil City area. The company also operated leases near El Dorado, Arkansas, Victoria, Texas, Tullos, Louisiana, and the Grogan field south of Shreveport.
In the mid 70s, the company split and part of the leases, equipment and buildings became part of a new company, Seagull Operating Co. Caddo Oil Company continued to operate the remaining leases and was eventually bought by Three Sisters Petroleum of Oil City sometime in the late 70s or 80s.
Source: Les Baker, son of former Caddo Field Superintendent L. E. Baker, Sr.
Below: A meeting of Caddo Oil Company employees, possibly at their Christmas Party, and sometime in the late 1960s (*).
Identified below as numbered, with job title:
1 - F. M. Parker (pumper)
2 - Abner Wilkins, Jr. (gang pusher)
3 - Roger Batts
4 - John Gryder (pumper)
5 - J. B. McKnight (gang foreman)
6 - Versie Owens
7 - Carroll Holland (pumper)
8 - Arch Henderson (roustabout)
9 - William Barlow
10 - Leon Moore (heavy equipment operator)
11 - Vance Boyd
12 - Jake Moses
13 - Herbert Lloyd (treasurer)
14 - Marvin R. Moses (production foreman)
15 - Elmer Hawks (pumper)
16 - L. E. Baker, Sr. (field superintendent)
17 - Bobby Joe Henry (pumper)
18 - Albert Lee "Shorty" Dickson (pumper)
19 - Dick Lott (gang pusher)
20 - J. W. "Buddy" Dupree (shop - welder, mechanic, etc.)
21 - Unknown
22 - George Moore (shop foreman)
23 - Dudley Henderson (roustabout)
24 - Bill Herring (gang pusher)
25 - Unknown
26 - E. W. Todd (roustabout)
27 - Carl Nutt (roustabout)
28 - Paul Hagens (vice-president)
29 - D. A. Raymond, Jr. (president)
* Per Les Baker, based on persons shown and when they retired.
C & C Oilfield Servicing Company
Cagle's Grocery
Caldwell's Cementing Service Company
Below the company was featured on the Shreveport Times "Facts Worth Knowing" page, that highlighted area businesses weekly, Times in October 1952.
Bill Driskell Electric Company
Shreveport Times 08-Nov-1954, Page 3-B
Drouet's Drug Store
Eggleston's Grocery
Ella Mae's (McKnight) Beauty Shop Fina Service Station
Herman Fields Pump and Supply Company
Shreveport Times 10-Oct-1966, Page 2-D
Leonard R. Fitzgerald, Independent Oil Producer
Shreveport Times 26-Jan-1986, Page 4-B
Ford Automobile Dealership (Various Owners)
A Harrington Motor Company advertisement from 1922. Mention of the dealership was also found in the year prior.
Shreveport Times 27-Jul-1922, Page 11
An October 1926 article about merchants rebuilding after a recent major town fire mentions a Keith Motor Company having formerly occupied a building then put to use. The location described approximates that where the long-standing Ford dealership would reside.
Shreveport Times 02-Oct-1926, Page 13
The above was the only mention found of this business in Oil City, possibly and even likely a satellite operation of the W. D. Keith Motors Company in Shreveport.
Shreveport Times 22-Sep-1920, Page 3
Shreveport Times 02-Oct-1926, Page 13
The above was the only mention found of this business in Oil City, possibly and even likely a satellite operation of the W. D. Keith Motors Company in Shreveport.
Shreveport Times 22-Sep-1920, Page 3
In 1929 and again in 1935, Oil City Motor Company was listed in the newspaper, in both cases included among a group of dealers participating in a promotion. However, in neither case was the owner identified. By 1942, Austin Glynn Lee was listed in a similar advertisement.
Oil City Motors loaned a car to nearby Vivian High School for use in drivers education.
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| VHS teacher and coach John Prudhomme instructs driving students |
Another group promotion advertisement listed Mr. Lee as owner and manager.
Shreveport Times 31-Mar-1951, Page 9
A. G. Lee, shown below in 1959.
Shreveport Times 19-Apr-1959, Page 1-E
Buster Gant took over ownership around 1960. Three years earlier, he was listed as a partner in Courtesy Auto Service, located on North Market Street in Shreveport.
Source: Nona Wooldridge
Afterward, it became Charles Anthony Ford. In 1987, and after a 65-plus year run, Oil City's local Ford dealership closed its doors.
Shreveport Times 22-Jan-1987, Page 17
Four Star Oil Company
Fred's/Tinny's Barbecue/ Melody Shop
Fred Bennett and wife Tinny (Pourteau) operated a malt shop at the northwest corner of the intersection of Highway 1 and Savage Street. This is the current location of the Guaranty Bank.
Later it was operated by the Paris family under the "Melody Shop" name.
Frosty Freeze/Rusty Bucket
Furlong's Truck Stop and Motel
Bill Gary Production - Contract Drilling
Gibson Oil Well Cementing Company
Grantham & King Drilling Contractors
Gulf Service Station
Operated by Marvin Fulgium, and later Gene Self.
Shreveport Times 10-Jun-2008, Page 5-B
Shreveport Times 13-Dec-2009, Page 6-B
Guinn Brothers
Road and bridge construction
Nick George's Grocery Store
H & H Oil Well Service (Harry (Sr.) and Harry (Jr.) Hill)
F. E. Hargraves & Sons
Shreveport Times 24-Aug-1959 Page 8-C
Fred E. Hargraves.
Shreveport Times 14-Jun-1964, Page 9-D
Humphries Insurance Agency
Ike's Barbeque
Source: Jacqueline Rawls Courtney (granddaughter)
Per Jacqueline: "My grandmother was a great cook and had a lunch menu Mon-Fri and if you did not like what she had that day you could always get a burger or good old BBQ of all kinds in sandwich form or a plate with potato salad, vegetable and bread. She made some of the best pies and cakes."
Some of the many comments of former customers remember Ike's:
Irene's Cafe
Jewell's Bait Shop
Jobe's Tin Shop
Bobby Johnson Equipment Company, Inc.
Current business. See website.
Jones'/ Ferry Lake Grocery
E. B. King Bulldozer Work
Kool Point Lodge
Once a night club and resort; and later a restaurant.
See Kool Point, A "Cool" Place On Caddo Lake.
Donald Lavine (1905-1970), Attorney
A native of Cleveland, Ohio; and graduate of the University of Michigan and Louisiana State University Law School, he was sworn in as a new lawyer in 1937.
1930 University of Michigan Michiganensian (yearbook), Page 383
New Orleans Times-Picayune 06-Mar-1937, Page 3
Served as Oil City postmaster, and was town mayor (shown below) from 1948-1964.
Town of Oil City website
Harry Sylvester Lavine (1879-1961) Inventor and businessman
Operated in diverse fields - electric power, oil, real estate, movie theaters (Star, Dixie, and Strand), and coin-operated amusements such as jukeboxes (was co-inventor of an early version) and pinball machines. Father of Donald Lavine.
Lee's Dry Cleaners
Lee's Grocery
Little's Barber Shop
Lynn Motel
Operated by the Mandinas (see following) and named for daughter Frances Lynn.
Mandina's Grocery
Owners Anthony (1904-1954) and Frances (Cascio) Mandina (1914-2010).
Shreveport Times 24-Oct-1954, Page 8
Shreveport Times 12-Sep-1947, Page 15
Marie's (Burton) Beauty Shop
Matthews Trucking Company
McCauley's Service Station
Monty's Electric
Lamonte G. "Monty" Teutsch (1914-1988), proprietor
A native of Rusk County, Texas; Monty and family moved to Oil City in 1957.
Rusk (TX) Cherokeean 11-Apr-1957, Page 11
Photo and profile from an unsuccessful run for Caddo Parish police juror in 1967.
Times 29-Oct-1967, Page 3-C
Interment: Lakeview Memorial Gardens; Oil City, LA
Mooneyham's Grocery Store
C. L. Morris Company
Shreveport Times 05-Oct-1980, Page 5-H
C.L Morris in 1967.
Shreveport Times 02-Apr-1967, Page 5-B
Nathan's Discount & Dollar Store
Pictures of the store appearing in the 1970s horror flick "Creature From Black Lake" that was filmed locally.
Nathan's is the brown building, across the railroad tracks.
Wife Freida years earlier in a picture from their wedding announcement.
Newt's Burger Shack
Norman Hotel/Cheshier Hotel
Owner J. K. Norman, pictured as an alderman of newly incorporated Oil City in 1940.
Times 14-Sep-1940, Page 11
Oil City Bank
Town of Oil City website
Oil City Furniture
Oil City Hardware & Supply
Shown in an advertisement commemorating the 50th anniversary of the discovery of oil in Caddo Parish.
Shreveport Times 10-Oct-1955, Page 6-C
Owner Alvin Johnson.
Shreveport Times 06-Nov-1961, Page 1-C
Selected parts of a half-page advertisement in a special section the Shreveport Times dedicated to the area's oil and gas industry.
Shreveport Times 24-Aug-1959, Page 2-C
The business was later acquired and operated by Butler & Sons.
Shreveport Times 19-Feb-1961, Page 7-D
Oil City Welding Works
Ridge Collection
Shreveport Times 14-Jun-1964, Page 9-D
Oil Well Acidizers
Founded by Jacky Rivers who, with wife Zelma (Brumley), were named king and queen respectively of the 1998 Gusher Days celebration.
Times 16-May-1998, Page 8B
Olde Fashion Restaurant
Cleveland Hendrick Pardue, M.D. (1884-1974)
After retiring from his medical practice in nearby Vivian, Dr. Pardue "temporarily" (he thought) set up shop in the back of Warren's Drug Store and treated patients for 21 more years.
Shreveport Times 07-Jul-1968, Page 14-F
Patrick's Garage
Penny-A-Minute Grocery Store
Located in the old Weaver Cafe, run by Hollis Otwell.
Pinckard & Weaver Building Contractors
Pope Brothers Oilfield Steam Cleaning
Potter's Garage
Pourteau's Cafe
An early version of the cafe under construction. Alex Pourteau, a native of France, is the man standing on the first level wearing a white shirt and hat.
Cafe interior. Mr. Pourteau is the man behind counter in white shirt.
Source: Barbara Thomas-Pourteau
Shreveport Times 24-Mar-1975, Page 12-A
Town of Oil City website
Reed's Grocery
G. A. Ridge (1888-1936)
George Arthur "Curly" Ridge (came to Oil City as a "muleskinner" (handler of mule teams) and operated a well servicing business from the 1920s until his death.
Ridge Collection
Shady Rest Fish Camp
B. F. Snowden
Split Nickel Grocery
1963 North Caddo High Rebel (yearbook), Page 172
James C. Steelman, Electrical Contractor
Strand Theater
Source: Ron Newton
See Oil City's Last Picture Show.
Texaco Service Station
Over the years, this station located north of the Ford Dealership had multiple owners, including (?) Emfinger and the Pope Brothers. The Craig brothers, Jerry and (?) operated it from approximately 1959-1962.
1961 Oil City Junior High School Bengal (yearbook)
Town and Country Beauty Shop - Murriel Langford, Owner
Trees Well Service (I. W. "Bill" McKnight)
Warren's Drug Store
Weaver's Cafe and Service Station (Cities Service/Citgo)
Wenk Electric
Western Auto
White's Hardware
Return to Encyclopedia Oleum Civitas.
Shreveport Times 24-Aug-1959 Page 8-C
Fred E. Hargraves.
Shreveport Times 14-Jun-1964, Page 9-D
Humphries Insurance Agency
Ike's Barbeque
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| Owners Isaac Rawls, Sr, and Hestella Mosely Rawls |
Per Jacqueline: "My grandmother was a great cook and had a lunch menu Mon-Fri and if you did not like what she had that day you could always get a burger or good old BBQ of all kinds in sandwich form or a plate with potato salad, vegetable and bread. She made some of the best pies and cakes."
"My dad tells a story of one of her customers that loved her pies and ate them every day at lunch till one day he came and her oven was broke. He said he could not have this, found the part and fixed it for her cause he needed his pie. He did not want money, he only wanted her to make him one of her pies."
Some of the many comments of former customers remember Ike's:
Patricia Allen: "Pat Allen enjoyed their food regularly, Ike insisted he come on chittling day, Ike had a good laugh because Pat couldn't get past the odor. His bar be que was wonderful, Estella was a wonderful pie baker, her veggies and corn bread were a treat. Some of Oil City's best food ever."
Rusty Batts: "He had the Best BarBQ and Turnip Greens, Cornbread, Just the Smell was awesome, They were both very sweet. Good clean cafe."
Susan Deaton: "Great pic of two wonderful people. I thought so much of them, & they both had a GOD given talent cooking, anything I ever ate there was amazing, I would love to have some of his barbeque one more time, he definitely brought a lot of smiles to Oil City residents with his great personality & amazing BAR B Q, loved these two."
Nita Rogers Jacobs: "Ate there when working at Gant Ford. Best pies ever!!"
Dickie Martin: "Just as I remembered. Ate lunch with them almost every day for several years."
Jerri Rathbun: "I all ways loved Ike's Bar-B-Q. He and Estella were very good people.I knew them when I was a small child."
JoAnn Poindexter Rourk: "I loved to go an watch her make those pies an smell all that good food cooking."
Relda Whatley Sibley: "Every town should be so blessed to have an 'Ikes BBQ'! Wonderful people, incredible food!"
Sandra Dean Sullivan: "Best barbeque in this country... Wonderful people... I remember them with lots of love..."
Irene's Cafe
Jewell's Bait Shop
Jobe's Tin Shop
Bobby Johnson Equipment Company, Inc.
Current business. See website.
Jones'/ Ferry Lake Grocery
E. B. King Bulldozer Work
Kool Point Lodge
Once a night club and resort; and later a restaurant.
See Kool Point, A "Cool" Place On Caddo Lake.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio; and graduate of the University of Michigan and Louisiana State University Law School, he was sworn in as a new lawyer in 1937.
1930 University of Michigan Michiganensian (yearbook), Page 383
New Orleans Times-Picayune 06-Mar-1937, Page 3
Served as Oil City postmaster, and was town mayor (shown below) from 1948-1964.
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| Donald Lavine |
Per Donald's obituary, he was a member of the Tau Delta Phi fraternity, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Rotary Club, and the Caddo-Pine Island Oil & Historical Society. He is buried in Centuries Memorial Park; Shreveport, LA.
Harry Sylvester Lavine (1879-1961) Inventor and businessman
Operated in diverse fields - electric power, oil, real estate, movie theaters (Star, Dixie, and Strand), and coin-operated amusements such as jukeboxes (was co-inventor of an early version) and pinball machines. Father of Donald Lavine.
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| Harry S. Lavine in the 1950s |
Lee's Grocery
Little's Barber Shop
Lynn Motel
Operated by the Mandinas (see following) and named for daughter Frances Lynn.
Mandina's Grocery
Owners Anthony (1904-1954) and Frances (Cascio) Mandina (1914-2010).
Shreveport Times 24-Oct-1954, Page 8
Shreveport Times 12-Sep-1947, Page 15
Marie's (Burton) Beauty Shop
Matthews Trucking Company
McCauley's Service Station
Monty's Electric
Lamonte G. "Monty" Teutsch (1914-1988), proprietor
A native of Rusk County, Texas; Monty and family moved to Oil City in 1957.
Rusk (TX) Cherokeean 11-Apr-1957, Page 11
Photo and profile from an unsuccessful run for Caddo Parish police juror in 1967.
Times 29-Oct-1967, Page 3-C
Interment: Lakeview Memorial Gardens; Oil City, LA
Mooneyham's Grocery Store
C. L. Morris Company
Shreveport Times 05-Oct-1980, Page 5-H
C.L Morris in 1967.
Shreveport Times 02-Apr-1967, Page 5-B
Nathan's Discount & Dollar Store
Pictures of the store appearing in the 1970s horror flick "Creature From Black Lake" that was filmed locally.
Nathan's is the brown building, across the railroad tracks.
Wife Freida years earlier in a picture from their wedding announcement.
Newt's Burger Shack
Norman Hotel/Cheshier Hotel
Owner J. K. Norman, pictured as an alderman of newly incorporated Oil City in 1940.
Times 14-Sep-1940, Page 11
Oil City Bank
Town of Oil City website
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| O. B. Roberts, Bank President |
Oil City Furniture
Oil City Hardware & Supply
Shreveport Times 10-Oct-1955, Page 6-C
Owner Alvin Johnson.
Shreveport Times 06-Nov-1961, Page 1-C
Selected parts of a half-page advertisement in a special section the Shreveport Times dedicated to the area's oil and gas industry.
Shreveport Times 24-Aug-1959, Page 2-C
The business was later acquired and operated by Butler & Sons.
Shreveport Times 19-Feb-1961, Page 7-D
Oil City Welding Works
Owned and operated by N. A. Blizzard, who offered industrial welding services as well as automotive repair. The shop stood on the south side of Furman Street in the vicinity of what is now a housing project at South Dickey Avenue.
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| Oil City Welding Works (Billie Blizzard Ridge in foreground) |
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| N. A. Blizzard (1964) |
Per Noah "Buddy" Blizzard (son): "The shop was a furniture repair/upholstery shop at one time before Dad got it. I can only guess it was the late forties, early fifties that he started the business. Normal staffing was three to five men - at his peak time was seven to ten. He built some of the complex things there. You would think he had a degree in engineering instead he had two degrees..one in logic and one in common sense. He had customers from as far as south Louisiana and Texas. He had as many as six trucks to do field work. Johnny Shafer was his partner at one time...He sold it to James Barber before I left to go in the air force in 1959. James was working for dad around that time."
Oil Well Acidizers
Founded by Jacky Rivers who, with wife Zelma (Brumley), were named king and queen respectively of the 1998 Gusher Days celebration.
Times 16-May-1998, Page 8B
Olde Fashion Restaurant
Cleveland Hendrick Pardue, M.D. (1884-1974)
After retiring from his medical practice in nearby Vivian, Dr. Pardue "temporarily" (he thought) set up shop in the back of Warren's Drug Store and treated patients for 21 more years.
Shreveport Times 07-Jul-1968, Page 14-F
Patrick's Garage
Penny-A-Minute Grocery Store
Located in the old Weaver Cafe, run by Hollis Otwell.
Pinckard & Weaver Building Contractors
Pontiac Automobile Dealership
Oil City briefly had a Pontiac dealership, though it is not known if this was a separate business competing with the "Ford Place" or a rebranding of same for some period of time. This advertisement is from the Shreveport Times 12-Aug-1928, Page 32.
George Dewey Bunkley (1898-1972) was listed as an Oil City resident in the 1930 census, along with wife Rosie and children Edwin and Nellie. His occupation was listed as "automobile salesman." Based on known neighbors listed on the census page as well as a property transaction record found, they lived on what is now Hwy 538 a bit north of the school; in the general area across the tracks from where Museum Street intersects Land Avenue.
A native of Cass County, Texas and earlier a Vivian resident; he later moved to Houston where he died in 1972.
Pope Brothers Oilfield Steam Cleaning
Potter's Garage
Pourteau's Cafe
An early version of the cafe under construction. Alex Pourteau, a native of France, is the man standing on the first level wearing a white shirt and hat.
Cafe interior. Mr. Pourteau is the man behind counter in white shirt.
Source: Barbara Thomas-Pourteau
Alex's son, Bertrand Alfred Pourteau (1904-1975), owned and managed a later incarnation of the establishment, renamed the Oil City Cafe. He also served as the town's fire chief for several years.
Shreveport Times 24-Mar-1975, Page 12-A
Town of Oil City website
Reed's Grocery
G. A. Ridge (1888-1936)
George Arthur "Curly" Ridge (came to Oil City as a "muleskinner" (handler of mule teams) and operated a well servicing business from the 1920s until his death.
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| On a well site around 1930, Curly (center in light shirt and hat) with wife Marie and workers |
Robin's Pool Hall
John Robin (1897-1974) operated a pool hall next to the Oil City Cafe. He was a half-brother of owner Bertrand Pourteau; both being sons of Zepheline Pourteau (1876-1969).
Former OC resident Darrell McCauley remembered:
"There was a hole in the wall between the pool hall & the cafe with a bell hanging from the top of the hole, when you rang the bell someone would come and take your order ,when they brought it back they would ring the bell and you pay for your order."
Shady Rest Fish Camp
B. F. Snowden
Split Nickel Grocery
1963 North Caddo High Rebel (yearbook), Page 172
James C. Steelman, Electrical Contractor
Strand Theater
From the 1910s to the 1960s, there was at least one walk-in movie theater in Oil City.
Source: Ron Newton
See Oil City's Last Picture Show.
Texaco Service Station
Over the years, this station located north of the Ford Dealership had multiple owners, including (?) Emfinger and the Pope Brothers. The Craig brothers, Jerry and (?) operated it from approximately 1959-1962.
1961 Oil City Junior High School Bengal (yearbook)
Town and Country Beauty Shop - Murriel Langford, Owner
Trees Well Service (I. W. "Bill" McKnight)
Warren's Drug Store
Weaver's Cafe and Service Station (Cities Service/Citgo)
Wenk Electric
Western Auto
White's Hardware
Return to Encyclopedia Oleum Civitas.
