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“The Atlantic Story,” is a 1950s-era film that, through animation and live action sequences, tells the history of the Atlantic Refining Company (Atlantic Petroleum) - its growth from a handful of oil marketing pioneers to a large organization. Atlantic was a direct descendant of the Standard Oil Trust and one of the companies that merged with Richfield Oil to form ARCO, now part of BP. After an unsuccessful spinoff from ARCO, Atlantic was acquired by Sunoco in 1988. Title page, Atlantic Refining Company refinery (0:06). Atlantic Refining Company headquarters at 260 S. Broad Street in Philadelphia (0:24). Vehicle pulls into red, white, and blue Atlantic service station (0:43). Historical reenactment footage of Philadelphia 1860, first oil well built by Colonel Edwin Drake Titusville, Pennsylvania (1:03). Illustrated sequence history of Atlantic Refining Company beginning as Warden Frew & Company petroleum export firm to Atlantic Petroleum Storage Co. in Point Breeze, Philadelphia; Joins Standard Oil Organization; Rapid expansion across Pennsylvania (1:15). Painting 19th century Atlantic Refining Company wharves (2:25). Image 19th century commercial oil vehicle, horse-drawn wagon (2:49). Standard Oil Trust dissolves (3:01). Mass production of automobile, illustration of man driving 1903 Ford Model A (3:38). Early model Atlantic drive-in service gas station Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1915 (3:51). Atlantic begins operating its own oil wells beginning in Kentucky 1916 then central Texas 1919 followed by drilling operations in Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Central and South America (4:12). Live action footage Atlantic employees working on oil rig (4:23). World War I: Atlantic ceases territory sales expansion, illustration British biplane fighter aircraft Royal Aircraft Factory , Atlantic develops and produces special type high octane aviation fuel (4:40). Post WWI: Philadelphia refinery increases production capacity, expansion in foreign and domestic markets, offices in Paris, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Africa, Brazil, Argentina (4:55). View of Sugarloaf Mountain Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Different Atlantic service stations around Brazil (5:38). Domestic expansion: Map of America’s northeastern states, expansion into New England, New York, New Jersey ; Map extends to show expansion into South Atlantic States (5:50). 1937 construction of new refinery at Port Arthur, Texas (7:24). Camera pans fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit, developed during WWII to fuel 370 B-29s (7:38). Post WWII expansion (8:02). “Contemporary times:” Atlantic expansion into all areas of petroleum business i.e. acquisition and development, production, transportation, refining crude oil, and marketing; Various clips Atlantic well digging trucks, Atlantic crude oil tanker, gas station service man selling woman in her car product (8:24). Camera pans Atlantic refinery, metal frames of dozens of oil wells (8:46). Close-up pumpjack at work (8:56). Series of likely 1950s International R-180 pickup trucks with geophysical crew set out on desolate, rural road (9:00). Exploration and seismograph crew send pipe down into ground, explosion set off, scientists read seismograph results (9:09). Aerial view Atlantic crude oil storage tanks, use of high-pressure gas injection into underground reservoirs (9:34). Sea going oil tankers JW Van Dyke, supertankers (9:49). First all-welded, self-propelled ship, first high pressure, high temperature steam turbine tanker, radar on commercial oil tanker, high frequency radiotelephones on board (10:18). SS Atlantic Seaman tanker pulls out of shipyard (10:57). Construction of pipelines across United States: Animation of pipeline spreading across New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, New York (11:10). Fleet of Atlantic oil tanker trucks in Belmont Terminal Philadelphia, 1950s Wallis oil tankers (11:48). Camera pans Philadelphia refinery along Schuylkill River; Catalytic reforming unit; 2nd fluid catalytic cracking unit (12:08). Texas refinery; detergent alkaloid plant; Catalytic reforming unit (12:57). Atlantic Refining Company Laboratories Dallas, Philadelphia - first to manufacture modern chemical detergents, atomic energy in petroleum search, motor oils (13:21). Boxes of Atlantic premier motor oil, premium gasoline (14:03). 1956 Cadillac El Dorado pulls into Atlantic service station, helped by gas station attendant in uniform (14:07). Montage shots previously shown in film, narrator closing words (14:30). Close-up of signature “Atlantic” service station sign (14:58). Film ends (15:05). Have films you'd like to donate or have scanned? Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2K. For more information visit
