Atlas Obscura - Curious and Wondrous Travel Destinations

World's Largest Amoco Sign

This titanic oil company sign is a reminder of the Americana boom of the 1970s and also its commoditization. 

1301
392

Despite the fact that the Amoco oil company is long since defunct, the World’s Largest Amoco Sign, built in the company’s heyday still towers over a Missouri intersection more as a copyright placeholder than a tribute to the company’s legacy.

The name Amoco used to be synonymous with gas stations all around America, having slowly built their huge company after becoming their own entity during a monopoly split in the early 1900’s. By the 1970’s the company name and its iconic central-torch logo could be seen in almost every city in the country. During the heady days of the company’s expansion, a massive logo sign was built on top of a St. Louis gas station that was actually wider than the building it was perched on top of. However by the late 1990’s Amoco merged with British Petroleum and the iconic American logo was swiftly replaced across the landscape with BP’s green pastel suns. However some stations retained the original Amoco signs, not so much out of nostalgia, but as evidence that BP still holds the copyright should they decide to revive the brand.

The massive sign that was, and will probably continue to be, the largest Amoco sign in the world is one of these holdovers. However, it rested atop a heavily branded BP gas station, making its strange sign-out-of-time existence all the more stark. In 2017, BP reinstated the Amoco brand and began reopening Amoco gas stations across America. Since then, the BP has been converted to an Amoco, matching the enormous sign above it.

In partnership with KAYAK

Plan Your Trip

From Around the Web