MULLEN CO-OP OIL COMPANY

by Gussie Boyer Osborne

Entry B1 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Mac Osborne front of New Building 1957. Manager
of Mullen Co-op 1927 to 1968

The Mullen Co-op Oil Company was
organized in 1927 by the members of the
Mullen Creamery. Although organized as a
separate corporation, the same directors were
elected: S.R. Babcock, Mac Osborne, C.R.
Wolfenden, B.F. Prentice, Ben Mayhew, C.E.
Williamson and Fred M. Evans. Mac Osborne
was hired to manage both companies and
Gussie Osborne was hired as part-time
bookkeeper. The organization was capital-
ized at $3,000.00 and 125 shares were sold at
$15.00 each.

A service station was added east of the
creamery building at the east end of Main
Street and a hand-operated gasoline pump
installed. Storage tanks and a 350-gallon
delivery truck were purchased and Brooks
McClure was hired as the first delivery truck
driver. He continued until 1941 when he
moved to Tacoma, Washington. Others who
worked for the Co-Ops through the years
included Don Hall, Don Long, Emmett Glen
Long, Ernest Anderson, Buck Boyer, R.H.
Cash, Claude Kime, Harvey Cotant, Leland
Johnson, Elmer Little, Lloyd Leonard Gink-
ens, Kenneth Lowe, Lee Isom, Paul Little,
Lloyd Piester, Cliff Thompson, Clarence
Dooley, Charlie Isom, Carl Carlson, Robert
Wolfenden, Jim Devine, Gerald Long, Nyle
Hodges, Benjamin French, Clyde Sexton,
Leland Johnson and Jack Kemp.

All fuel was shipped in by rail until a
petroleum transport trucking business was
started by J.M. (Mac) Rayfield. He hauled
gasoline, fuel oil and kerosene (sometimes
called lamp oil) from Coffeville, Kansas,
then later from Superior, Nebraska until
1946 when Hank Holfeld took over the
transport business.

In 1934, the former Leo Elliot filling
station was purchased. It was located uptown
at the corner of 2nd and Washington streets
and had a shop in the back for mechanical
work. The next year the garage was enlarged
to cover the space between the Mercure
building to the south. John Gillespie, the
Ford dealer at that time was the first
mechanic. Others at later times included Lafe
Stoner, George Woods Sr., George Woods Jr.,
Lloyd Herfel, John Pearson, and others.

In 1939, the office was moved into the
Mercure Building next door which had been
purchased and remodeled for the Creamery.

In 1948 the two companies - Mullen Cream-
ery and Mullen Co-op Oil Company - were
merged into one to be called simply "Mullen
Co-Op." A fire destroyed the business in May
1956, but a new building was built and the
grand opening was held in October, 1957.

Refunds were paid out each year on the
various items of business, according to the
savings for the year. W.W. Wood, an auditor
from Farmer's Union of Omaha audited the
books each year from 1927 to 1964. Then
Howard Curtis of Alliance was auditor. In a
10-year period of time, the refunds paid out
in either cash or additional shares averaged
$20,000.00 per year.

Gussie Osborne continued as bookkeeper
and office manager until she and Mac retired
in 1968. Office employees through the years
included Wayne Osborne, Ruby Crain Si-
monsen, Marjorie Hodges Crossley, Una
Lange, Jean Hohlfeld Piester, Marilyn Piercy
Eppenbach, Clarice Boyer Piercy, Juanita
Kime Haines and Josephine McIntoch John-
son.

Mac and Gussie retired June 30, 1968.
Directors at that time were Joe Lattin, Leroy
Anders, Eugene Boyer, Donald Cox, Wilbert
Ericksen, Hank Hohlfeld and Phlete War-
den. Other directors who served through the
years included C.U. Long, Charles Marsh,
F.A. Meidell, L.B. Stambaugh, Enoch An-
ders, Fred Marshall, J.E. Lowe, Clyde Lick-
ing, Fred Kraye, Otto Boyer and Percy
Miller, Lucien Andrews, Charles N. Boyer
and Gerald French. Some names of directors
and employees may have been unintention-
ally omitted, but all contributed greatly to
the Co-Op's success.