Paragon Oil

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Paragon Oil Company, Inc. was founded in New York in 1925 by brothers Henry, Irving, Robert, Benjamin, and Arnold Schwartz. Incorporated in New York on April 20, 1925, it grew from the city’s fuel-heating economy into a major Northeast fuel-oil distributor. Its headquarters were in Long Island City, Queens: close enough to the working waterfront, and clearly not interested in smelling like a boardroom.

Paragon’s world was burners, delivery trucks, storage tanks, barges, and tankers. Its Greenpoint terminal on Newtown Creek operated from 1934 to 1959, placing the company amid Brooklyn’s dense industrial oil landscape. A fleet of Paragon-branded trucks put the name directly on the streets and apartment-house heating routes of metropolitan New York.

The company’s postwar business reached beyond the boroughs. Paragon supplied fuel oil into the reconstruction era and operated tanker-related businesses through its Circle Shipping affiliate. In 1959, Texaco purchased Paragon Oil Company, establishing a larger Texaco fuel-oil presence on the East Coast. Texaco continued operations at the former Paragon terminal until 1968.

Our Paragon Oil collection celebrates the Queens-and-Brooklyn fuel merchant that turned dependable heat, heavy logistics, and five-gallon practicality into a big-league petroleum name. Expect industrial grit, delivery-route swagger, and enough old oil-company confidence to keep the boiler room humming.