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Albert Leroy Ellsworth, was born
in Welland, Ontario, on July 2, 1876, the son of George Alfred Ellsworth
and Elizabeth Foster. He founded the British American Oil Company at
the age of 29, after spending 9 years at Standard Oil's Acme, Buffalo,
Refinery. S. R. Parson was the first President of B/A, with Mr. Ellsworth
acting as Secretary Treasurer. The corner of King and Yonge Streets
in Toronto, Ontario, was the location of the first B/A Office Building.
The British American Oil Company Limited, organized with a Province
of Ontario Charter dated October 17, 1906, under the authority of King
Edward VII, was therefore a British company. American petroleum products
were the standards by which the rest the world was measured, so this
was a British Company, with American standards, in Canada.
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1908: With 8 shareholders, B/A built
Canada’s third refinery on 3 acres of
swampland on the eastern waterfront in Toronto. The main product was
Electrolene (Kerosene), with gasoline, a useless and highly
flammable by-product, being dumped into the swamp.
B/A acquired a Dominion Charter, entered Quebec,
and also expanded west.Mr. Ellsworth coined the phrase;
"No one shall offer a better product
nor give better service."
B/A expanded from 3 to 40 acres in Toronto, and crude production was
up to 32,000 barrels per month. Most of the product was hauled in
tanks displaying the slogan mounted on wagons pulled by horses,
and in wooden barrels, by rail.
"WE MAKE THAT GOOD OIL"
All B/A outlets were agent owned, and visible gas pumps
were becoming popular,
as they allowed customers to check on the quality and cleanliness of
the fuels.
It was about
this time that the Vulcan logo was introduced.
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