William K. Warren, Sr.
| William K. Warren, Sr. | |
|---|---|
| Born |
William Kelly Warren December 3, 1897 Nashville, Tennessee |
| Died | June 11, 1990 (aged 92) Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Philanthropy |
| Spouse(s) | Natalie Overall (m. 1921; d. 1990) |
William K. Warren (1897–1990) founded the Warren Petroleum Corporation of Delaware in 1922. He and his company (headquartered in Tulsa) soon became specialists in the production and marketing of liquefied petroleum gas, a byproduct of petroleum refining and natural gas purification. Warren sold his company to Gulf Oil Corporation in 1953 for $450 million, the largest such merger in the energy industry up to that time. Warren then turned his attention to philanthropy and established the Saint Francis Hospital system in Tulsa.
William Kelly Warren (1897–1990) was born in Nashville Tennessee to Thomas Hines and Amelia Elizabeth Cecil Warren on December 3, 1897. Little has been published about his childhood and adolescence. One source says that he dropped out of school after eighth grade because of his father's death. A brief biography, published in 1987, when the Tulsa Historical Society inducted him into its hall of fame, indicates only that he struggled with poverty during those years, and that he had jobs as "... a newspaper carrier, a Western Union messenger, a peanut vendor in a baseball park, a drug store employee, a door-to-door salesman and even a dance hall instructor." While living in Nashville, where he attended parochial schools. Apparently he decided to leave Nashville in 1915, and went to work as a railroad clerk, earning 40 dollars a month. According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, he befriended Myrtle (Mrs. Daniel A.) McDougal of Sapulpa, Oklahoma, who advised him to go west to seek his fortune. Warren caught a train to Sapulpa in February 1916, where he went to work briefly on a rail line serving the oil boom towns of Depew and Shamrock. That job only lasted five days, when he quit and began learning everything he could about the oil business by working a variety of jobs. he worked for Gypsy Oil Company, Gilliland Oil Company, Gulf Oil Corporation, Margay Oil Corporation, and McMan Oil and Gas Company in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.
Warren worked for a few years as assistant to Patrick J. Hurley, who was then vice president of Gilliland Oil Company.
Warren resigned in 1922 to found his own oil company, Warren Petroleum Company of Delaware. He made his headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with himself and his wife as the only people on the payroll. His firm concentrated on producing and marketing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a byproduct of natural gas processing. Warren organized the Western Gasoline Company, which he reorganized as the Warren Petroleum Company of Oklahoma in 1932, and then into Warren Petroleum Corporation in 1937. In 1930, he bought the domestic gasoline production facilities of Amerada Hess Corporation. Warren Petroleum, along with Monterey Oil Company and J. R. Butler founded the Transwestern Pipeline Company on March 11, 1957. On November 10, 1953, Gulf Oil Corporation bought Warren Petroleum Corporation for $420 million. The deal was called the largest exchange of money in the industry until then.
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