1965 was a vintage year for the emergence of some great American icons. The Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews debuted to enormous audiences and quickly rose to become one of the most beloved movies of all time as well as a huge box office hit.
The Righteous Brothers hit the top of the charts with a song called “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling.”
The Ford Mustang had been introduced in the previous year, but 1965 was the year that car aficionados still call
“The Year of the Mustang.”

Another enduring icon made its entrance in 1965. On May 16th that year, a new gasoline brand called CITGO was announced with no small amount of fanfare by then parent company, Cities Service Company. The airwaves were full of the new “Zoom! Zoom! Cities Service is CITGO Now” campaign and point of purchase at the newly re-branded gas stations everywhere proclaimed that CITGO was “A Nice Place to Visit.” Over forty years later, our brand message is virtually the same as we work every day to help you get where you want to go for the road ahead.

CITGO was officially born in the spring of 1983, but the company traces its heritage back to the early 1900s and a pioneer oilman named Henry L. Doherty. Learn more about the fascinating history behind CITGO... including when our headquarters was on Wall Street and Doherty’s role in getting nighttime lighting for the Statue of Liberty.

Click on each decade in the sidebar for a glimpse of the highlights from both CITGO and the world around us.

Brief synopsis of CITGO’s history