History
USOR was organized in 1952 as a privately held corporation, then named Pacific Oil & Refining Co. The president of the company at that time was Dr. Ernest Lyder. The company was formed for purposes of building an oil refinery in the Pacific Northwest. In 1954, the refinery's present site in Tacoma was purchased, and in 1955 its name was changed to U.S. Oil & Refining Co.
Construction of the initial facility, a 5,000 barrels per day (790 m3/d) (stream) refinery, began during the summer of 1955. Construction was completed in mid-1957. By the end of that year, the refinery was in full operation. Chico Marx entertained at the ground-breaking ceremony on July 22, 1955, for the new $10 million plant. Tacoma Mayor Harold Tollefson and senators Warren G. Magnuson and Henry M. Jackson also attended the ceremony. The site had been a favorite spot for fishing, swimming, and duck hunting in earlier years. The west end of the site had once been the city landfill, which at one time contained (unmodified, unstripped) Japanese Zeros brought over from after World War II. The east end of the site was once wetlands.
A second crude unit, capable of processing heavy crude oil, used in the manufacture of paving grade asphalt, became operational in 1959. USOR was sold to Astra Oil Trading in 2006. Astra is a subsidiary of Transcor.
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—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)