Our History

First oil well in the United States is drilled by William “Uncle Billy” Smith for Edwin L. Drake in Titusville, Pennsylvania. The 69-foot well produces 15 barrels of oil per day.

U.S. Civil War

Standard Oil Company is created.

Rudolph Diesel builds his very first model of a diesel engine and continues to make improvements during the following years.

Spanish American War; Rudolph Diesel receives a patent for an “internal combustion engine” (Diesel engine).

Texas Fuel Co. is founded (eventually Texaco).

Henry Ford builds the very first Model T.

The kerosene-powered Aladdin model 1 lamp is invented, providing bright white light to rural America where half of the 92-million population lives.

Dr. Walter Snelling identifies propane.

The production of propane is patented by Dr. Walter Snelling.

Dr. Walter Snelling and colleagues establish the American Gasol Co., the first commercial marketer of propane; Standard Oil Co. establishes the first gas station in Cincinnati; Rudolph Diesel delivers a speech stating, “the use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today, but such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal-tar products of the present time.”

WWI begins

WWI ends.

Lou Hilton “LH” Foster Sr. & LW Roark Sr. start Brookneal Oil Company, delivering flour, ice, and five-gallon cans of lamp oil to the Brookneal area by ox-drawn cart. LH Foster Sr. was a WWI veteran.

8.5 million automobiles and trucks are registered in the United States.

LH and LW split the company. LH assumes the oil business and—with his wife, Queenie “Inez” Foster—they continue to grow the business. Brookneal Oil becomes a consignee with Texaco (first Texaco consignee in the area). One of the original trucks bought for the company is located in front of the Brookneal office. LH & Inez have a son, LH Jr.

First trucks with diesel engines are built by Benz, Daimler, and MAN.

The first bobtail truck is built to transport propane.

The U.S. stock market crashes, causing the Great Depression to begin.

Propane is used to fuel all the appliances for cooling and heating the water in the Olympic Village at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles.

LH Sr. and Inez have another son, Watt “Bobby” Foster Sr. Both boys eventually join operations.

Oil deposits are found in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

WWII begins

Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.

Gasoline rationing along the Atlantic seaboard as a result of the war.

LH Jr. enlists for WWII through the ROTC program while still attending Virginia Tech. He loses ½ his leg while in service.

WWII ends; gasoline rationing ends.

Brookneal Oil Co. changes to become LH Foster & Son.

Korean War begins.

Korean War ends.

Gasoline sells for $0.15/gallon.
LH Jr. eventually takes over operations. His younger brother, Bobby, is involved with the family business also. LH Foster & Son continues to grow while Bobby attends the University of Richmond.

Bobby graduates from the University of Richmond and assumes control of the company with his wife, Nancy.

Bobby and Nancy have a son, Watt Jr., and the family business name changes to L.H. Foster & Sons. The business is incorporated on September 12th. LH Sr. passes away, and LH Jr. and Watt Sr. run the company together.

Vietnam War begins; OPEC forms on September 14.

Company name changes from LH Foster & Sons, Inc. to Foster Fuels, Inc. Bobby buys a transport truck to pick up fuels in Richmond. First delivery is made to James Bailey’s Cleaners on Main Street in Brookneal (now closed). Other local companies are bought to become part of Foster Fuels.

Propane installations in the United States total 13 million tanks.

Kerosene sells for $0.163/gallon.

Bobby adds propane to Foster Fuels’ services. Deliveries now include kerosene, fuel oil, gasoline, and motor oil.

Fuel oil sells for $0.169/gallon.

Propane price controls are instituted in the wake of the Arab oil embargo.

Vietnam War concludes.

The 799-mile-long trans-Alaskan pipeline is completed and first used.

President Reagan eliminates price controls on propane, gasoline, and crude oil.

Watt Jr. graduates from James Madison University in 1982 and joins the Foster Fuels team.

LH Jr. dies on November 11th (Veterans Day).

Bobby (Watt Sr.) sells Foster Fuels to Watt Jr., his son. Bobby and Watt Jr. continue to run the company together like the sale never happened. Bobby remains President and participates in all important decisions.

Watt Jr. does everything from driving a truck to service and work sales.

Propane is listed as an approved, alternative clean fuel in the 1990 Clean Air Act and—two years later, it is listed again as an alternative fuel in the Energy Policy Act of 1992; Persian Gulf War begins.

Texaco fuels are dropped from inventory.

Persian Gulf War ends.

Biodiesel goes into production in the U.S. for the first time.

Attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon; the U.S. declares war on terrorism.

67 million barrels of petroleum are produced worldwide each day.

Watt Jr. and Watt Sr. establish a disaster relief division in response to Hurricane Isabel’s arrival in Virginia.

Hurricane Ivan slams Florida—Foster Fuels responds successfully for private companies.

Katrina, the most disastrous storm to strike the U.S. in decades, sweeps through the Gulf Coast.

Foster Fuels expands its disaster relief business to service the federal government.

Watt Jr. and Watt Sr. revitalize the propane gas division.

Watt Jr. and Watt Sr. expand the company with a new headquarters and facility to hold the growth. Foster Fuels
purchases a local propane company to expand its propane division. Foster Fuels also expands propane into Danville, VA via another acquisition.

Foster Fuels responds to hurricanes Ike and Gustav with 80 trucks in the Gulf region.

Foster Fuels responds to ice storms in Kentucky in February. Foster continues to expand its propane operations and its trucking division.

The biggest oil spill in U.S. history; 5 million barrels leak into the Gulf of Mexico.

Foster Fuels responds to the Haiti Earthquake in January. Watt Jr. is deployed there with his men to oversee operations. Watt Jr. is away for two months while Watt Sr. continues to oversee operations in spite of his failing health.

Foster Fuels celebrates 90 years of business (1921–2011).

The Mission Critical division successfully performs the largest federal disaster relief mission in history in response to Superstorm Sandy in the Northeast.

Propane services expand from Lynchburg to Charlottesville with the opening of a full-service branch in Lovingston, VA. This expansion makes Foster Fuels one of the largest privately owned propane companies in Virginia.

Watt Robert “Bobby” Foster, Sr. passes away.