CITGO takes pride in helping our neighbors where we live and work.CITGO takes pride in helping our neighbors where we live and work.
The 1930s
Cities Service Becomes a Billion Dollar Corporation
1930 The first jet engine was invented.
1930 The first public television broadcast took place in the United States.
1930 The Oklahoma City Field produces 36.4 million barrels of oil, 4th largest of American fields.
1930 Cities Service buys a bulk lubricants plant and warehouse in Chicago.
1931 The Art Deco style Empire State Building was constructed in New York as the world$#146;s tallest building (at the time).
1931 Cities Service becomes a billion dollar corporation with 25,000 employees.
1932 Franklin D Roosevelt elected President of the United States.
1933 Adolf Hitler named Chancellor of Germany.
1934 Gunman and bandit John Dillinger shot and killed by federal agents outside a movie theatre.
1935 Congress enacts the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which provided even stronger government support for organized labor.
1935 W. Alton Jones, as Senior Vice President of Cities Service testifies against the Wheeler-Rayburn Bill (Public Utilities Act of 1935 which would break up the utility companies).
1935 Venezuela’s per capita gross domestic product was Latin America’s highest.
1936 Jesse Owens, an African-American athlete competing for the United States, wins four gold medals in the track and field competition at the Berlin Olympics.
1936 Cities Service marketing moves from Chicago to Tulsa.
1936 At the close of the year Cities Service was comprised of 24 petroleum companies, 45 electric companies and 15 natural gas companies.
1937 Henry L. Doherty received the Anthony Lucas Medal for “Distinguished Achievement for Improving the Technique of Finding and Producing Oil.”
1937 More than 50 feet long and 8 feet high, the first programmable calculator is built, the predecessor to the modern computer.
1937 A Venezuelan oil workers’ strike accomplished significant improvements in working conditions in the domestic oil industry.
1938 Chester Carlson develops an electronic dry copying process called xerography-the predecessor to today's copy machines.
1939 Germany invades Poland, starting World War II.
1939 RCA exhibits television to the public at the World’s Fair in New York City.

CITGO History

Through The Decades
The 1900s
The 1910s
The 1920s
The 1930s
The 1940s
The 1950s
The 1960s
The 1970s
The 1980s
The 1990s
The 2000s


 Text Color Key
Black Text =
Historical Events

Green Text =
Cities Service
Historical Events

Red Text =
Venezuelan
Historical Events