Production men from a company called National Transit took control of The Ohio Oil Company in April, 1889. It still existed solely to provide crude to Standard. By 1911, with the breakup of the Standard Oil Trust, the company was in limbo as its only customer had been Standard. It continued to sell crude to them and other entities from the Standard breakup.

The Ohio started to look west in the teens, as crude fields always play out, but success was very slow. Oil production in the Rocky Mountains began to show profit, but the company had learned a valuable lesson. In the future, it would let the wildcat drillers find the oil and then buy proven reserves. Its long-term plans made profits while wildcatters took the risk.

A new phase began with The Ohio in 1924 when the Lincoln Oil Refinery in Robinson, Ill. was purchased. It then began to refine and retail gasoline at stations under the Linco brand name.

In 1930 the company purchased Transcontinental Oil and with it became the owner of Yates Field in Texas, the largest oil discovery of its time. Transcontinental owned 400 some stations at this time, retailing product under the Marathon brand. The name and mark were very distinctive and The Ohio Oil Company continued to use it. Stations in the east retailed under the Linco brand, while stations in the midwest and south retailed under the Marathon brand.

In an era from 1936 to 1939, the Olympic Runner logo was transformed from the Linco green to the more familiar red, white and blue. During WW II, The Ohio provided aviation fuels to the war effort and eliminated far flung markets concentrating on Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky and Michigan.

In 1962 The Ohio Oil Company abandoned its name of 75 years in favor of the “Marathon Oil Co.” name. The Olympic Runner “Best In the Long Run” trademark was retired in favor of the red “M” logo with the blue outline seen at Marathon stations today.

In the ‘60s Marathon started to expand from its home territory along I-75 heading south. After the gas shortages of the ‘70s interest by dealers declined and many of the stations were converted to company operated “Speedway” stations. In 1971 Marathon purchased Cleveland operated “Gastown” stations and in 1972 purchased Consolidated, headquartered in Oshkosh, Wis. As the retail market continued to grow, Marathon acquired the “Bonded” company headquartered in Springfield, Ohio in 1975.

In 1981 Marathon faced the biggest challenge in its history, warding off an unfriendly takeover by Mobil Oil. Three weeks later U.S. Steel was the new owner of Marathon. In the restructuring that followed, U.S. Steel became USX and Marathon was the largest and most profitable arm of the new company.

USX/Marathon purchased Checker from Exxon in September of 1983 and the Ecol brand in the south in 1984. The secondary brand markets began appearing with the “Speedway” identity and were grouped under a corporate subsidiary called “EMRO”, standing for “Marathon Retail Operations”. In 1985 EMRO purchased Globe Oil, based in Chamblee, Ga., and acquired the name “Starvin Marvin” from Globe. This was later incorporated into the Speedway logo and many outlets were reimaged with the “Speedway - Starvin Marvin” graphics and signs.

In 1989 Marathon purchased Rock Island Refining based in Indianapolis and acquired stations operated under the “United” name.

In the mid ‘80s Marathon expanded its Marathon brand name stations into Wisconsin and West Virginia, and the early ‘90s saw expansion into Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

On January 1, 1998, a merger between Marathon and Ashland Oil’s oil operations saw another new company name in the oil business; “Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC”.