Manitoba Business: Prairie Cities Oil Company

This company was incorporated in 1929 to acquire the business of its predecessor company, the Prairie City Oil Company that had been established in 1904. its initial directors were Albert E. Lewis (President and General Manager), W. A. Arnold (Manitoba Steel Foundries), R. A. Graham (Ashdown Hardware), D. I. McLeod (McLeod Young Weir & Company), Henry Eugene Sellers, E. P. Taylor (McLeod Young Weir & Company), and Walter F. Thorn (Imperial Lumber Yards). The company operated automotive service stations around Manitoba.

In February 1938, the company’s assets was acquired by North Star Oil Company and its service stations and office building were reopened under the North Star Oil banner by late 1938.

Manitoba Locations

City	Building	Location	Year	Status
Winnipeg	Prairie Cities Service Station No. 11	540 Arlington Street at Ellice Avenue	1929	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)
	Prairie Cities Service Station	170 Bannatyne Avenue	?	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)
	Prairie Cities Service Station No. 9	566 Logan Avenue	1929	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)
	Prairie Cities Service Station No. 2	170 Main Street	1929	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)
	Prairie Cities Service Station No. 10	603 Main Street	1929	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)
	Prairie Cities Service Station No. 7	888 Main Street	1929	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)
	Prairie Cities Service Station No. 4	666 Notre Dame Avenue at Maryland Street	1929	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)
	Prairie Cities Oil Building	1380 Notre Dame Avenue	1929	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938)
	Prairie Cities Service Station No. 6	145 Osborne Street	1929	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)
	Prairie Cities Service Station No. 1	701 Portage Avenue	1929	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)
	Prairie Cities Service Station No. 8	1397 Portage Avenue	1929	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)
	Prairie Cities Service Station No. 3	Rorie Street and McDermot Avenue	1929	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)
	Prairie Cities Service Station No. 5	Rupert Avenue and King Street	1929	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)
	Prairie Cities Service Station	310 St. Mary's Avenue	?	Acquired by North Star Oil (1938), demolished (?)

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Prairie Cities Oil Building / North Star Oil Building (1380 Notre Dame Avenue, Winnipeg)

Manitoba Business: North Star Oil Company / Shell Oil Canada

Sources:

“Prairie Cities Oil Co., Limited,” Winnipeg Tribune, 4 May 1929, page 39.

“Permits are issued in city in past 7 days,” Winnipeg Tribune, 13 July 1929, page 25.

“Permits for week number fifty-three,” Winnipeg Tribune, 17 August 1929, page 24.

“Announcing the official opening of the first of a series of our new type service stations,” Winnipeg Tribune, 24 August 1929, page 23.

“Prairie Cities Oil Co. opens service station,” Winnipeg Tribune, 24 August 1929, page 23.

Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.

“Complete excavation for filling stations,” Winnipeg Tribune, 7 September 1929, page 26.

“Buy better gasoline [advertisement],” Winnipeg Free Press, 28 September 1929, page 16.

“Prairie Cities Oil to surrender charter,” Winnipeg Tribune, 10 February 1938, page 14.

We thank Gordon Goldsborough and Gerri Weigeldt for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Jordan Makichuk.

Page revised: 24 March 2024