{"id":544,"date":"2022-01-11T14:31:19","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T20:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wrrmuseum.org\/?page_id=544"},"modified":"2026-04-06T20:18:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T02:18:25","slug":"1950s","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wrrmuseum.org\/index.php\/1950s\/","title":{"rendered":"1950 – 1959"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/span>
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The Baby Boom Years<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Passenger car numbers and usage increased with the expanding post-war economy and the development of the Interstate Highway System. Higher performance engines required higher performance gasoline and motor oil. WRR kept pace. A new process called platforming was developed, utilizing a catalyst containing small (but expensive) amounts of platinum to rearrange gasoline molecules into higher octane blending components. WRR constructed two Platformer Units (later renamed Catalytic Reformers), and Shell gasoline was marketed as having “Platformate.” The Research Laboratory discovered that adding the chemical TCP to gasoline helped prevent spark plug fouling, which was caused by the lead octane additive formerly used in gasoline. A large new distillation unit (DU-1, still in service), a third Alkylation unit, and a Lube Fractionation and Extraction unit were built. Meanwhile, WRR constructed a Waste Water Treatment Plant as pollution control activities increased. Refinery capacity was 170,000 barrels per day in 1953.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinclair Oil Corporation purchased the Hartford refinery from Wood River Oil & Refining, which was later renamed Koch Industries.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Distilling Unit no. 1<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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1950s Shell gasoline ad<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Lubricants Fractionation and Extraction unit<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u25c4 1940s<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Home<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
1960s \u25ba<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1950s Wood River Refinery Newsletters:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oct 1951<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Nov 1951<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Dec 1951<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Jul 1953<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Aug 1953<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Sep 1953<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Oct 1953<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Jan 1954<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Apr 1954<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Jul 1954<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Aug 1954<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Jan 1955<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Feb 1955<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Mar 1955<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Apr 1955<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
May 1955<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Jun 1955<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Jul 1955<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Aug 1955<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Sep 1955<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Oct 1955<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Nov 1955<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Dec 1955<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Jan 1956<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Feb 1956<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Mar 1956<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Apr 1956<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1950s Wood River Refinery Newsletters:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-544","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wrrmuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wrrmuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wrrmuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wrrmuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wrrmuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/wrrmuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1904,"href":"https:\/\/wrrmuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/544\/revisions\/1904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wrrmuseum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}