Marketing icon “Dino” and friends introduced children to wonders of the Mesozoic era courtesy of Sinclair Oil.
Harry Ford Sinclair established his petroleum company in 1916, making it one of the oldest continuous names in the U.S. energy industry. Appearing among other Sinclair Oil Company dinosaurs during the 1933-1934 World’s Fair in Chicago, “Dino” became a marketing icon whose popularity with children remains today.
With $50 million in assets, Harry Ford Sinclair borrowed another $20 million and formed Sinclair Oil & Refining Corporation on May 1, 1916. He brought together a collection of several depressed oil properties, five small refineries and many untested leases.
After the New York World’s Fair concluded in 1965, “Dino” and a caravan of Dinoland exhibits left Queens to begin a three-year tour, traveling more than 10,000 miles through 25 states to visit suburban shopping center parking lots — and Sinclair stations.
During its first 14 months of operations, Sinclair’s New York-based company produced six million barrels of oil for a net income of almost $9 million. The company’s refining capacity grew from 45,000 barrels of oil a day in 1920 to 100,000 barrels of oil a day in 1926. Refining capacity reached 150,000 barrels of oil per day in 1932.
The prospering producing and refining company began using an Apatosaurus (then called a Brontosaurus) in its advertising, sales promotions and product labels in 1930. Children loved it.
Chicago World’s Fair
Beginning on May 27, 1933, thousands lined up to see the Sinclair Oil Company dinosaurs exhibit at the Century of Progress International Exposition. Also known as the Chicago World’s Fair, the Sinclair exhibit lines would be there until the last day, October 31, 1934.
The first Sinclair Oil “Brontosaurus” trademark made its debut in Chicago as an exhibit during the 1933-1934 “Century of Progress” World’s Fair.
Sinclair’s dinosaur exhibit attracted Depression Era crowds. The company published a special edition newspaper, Big News, promoting the company’s diverse array of dinosaurs — and petroleum products.
“Sinclair uses dinosaurs in its motor oil advertising to impress on your mind the tremendous age of the crude oils from which Sinclair Motor Oils are made,” proclaimed one Big News article.
1939 New York World’s Fair
The Sinclair dinosaur exhibit drew large crowds once again at the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition. Four years later, a new throng of dinosaur fans marveled at a much-improved 70-foot dinosaur. The displays in Sinclair’s “Dinoland Pavilion” at the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair attracted more visitors than ever.
Sinclair’s green giant joined his accompanying cast of Jurassic buddies, including Triceratops, Stegosaurus, a duck-billed Hadrosaurus, and a 20-foot-tall Tyrannosaurus Rex. All became star attractions — especially of course for children.
Sinclair’s first super-fuel is marketed in 1926. The “HC” initials stand for “Houston Concentrate,” but some advertising men prefer the term “High Compression.”
Although the U.S. “The World of Tomorrow” exposition marked the first to be themed on the future, the Jurassic era Sinclair dinosaurs remained a top attraction. The Westinghouse Company featured its “Electro the Moto-Man,” a seven-foot robot that talked and smoked cigarettes.
Meanwhile, after the Chicago World’s Fair, the oil company recorded its single most successful promotion — dinosaur stamps. Decades later, “Dino” and many Jurassic friends would return to New York City with even greater acclaim in 1964.
Sinclair Dinosaurs Stamps
Meanwhile, Sinclair Oil in 1935 published dinosaur stamps and a stamp album that could be filled only with colored dinosaur stamps — issued one at a time weekly at Sinclair service stations.
The first printing of Sinclair’s dinosaur stamp albums — distributed through its dealers within 48 hours after a single network radio broadcast of the offer — would astound marketing professionals.
In 1935, Sinclair gas stations offered dinosaur stamp albums – and eventually handed out four million albums and 48 million stamps.
“The final totals were 4 million albums and 48 million stamps,” the company noted about its campaign. “Dino” surpassed the other Sinclair Oil Company dinosaurs in becoming an icon of successful petroleum marketing wherever it went.
Markedly refurbished, the 70-foot-long fiberglass green giant and his eight companions returned to New York for another world’s fair in 1964-1965. They included a Corythosaurus and a 45-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Fifty million New York City visitors attend the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair — with the Sinclair Corporation’s “Dinoland” exhibition among the most popular. Image courtsey CardCow.com.
In early 1964, spectators lined along the Hudson River to gaze at a barge crowded with an improved Dino and his kin floating downriver. The super-sized reptiles gathered again, inbound for another New York World’s Fair. One, a Triceratops, arrived by helicopter.
1964 New York World’s Fair
“For the first time in 70 million years a herd of dinosaurs will travel down the Hudson River this month,” noted the September 1963 issue of Popular Science.
New York spectators marveled at a tugboat pushing a barge of dinosaurs on the Hudson River in 1964.
“Faithfully sculptured and big as life,” noted the magazine, the fiberglass dinosaurs traveled by barge from the Catskill Mountains. Their journey began at the studio of animal sculptor Louis Paul Jonas, working with 18 assistants and paleontologist advisers.
Dismantling of “the great statue that stood in the Sinclair Pavilion of the New York World’s Fair, 1965.” Photo by Robert Walker, the New York Times Archives.
Altogether, the nine dinosaurs took two months and $250,000 to complete by opening day, April 22, 1964. By the end of the World’s Fair, about 50 million visitors had marveled at Sinclair’s “Dinoland” exhibit. Dino’s travels did not end when the fair closed in October 1965.
Shopping Centers
In July 1966, the Sinclair Dinoland exhibit visited Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota. Andy and Doug Ward posed for their father David’s camera in front of Triceratops. Photo courtesy Doug Ward.
After being disassembled and configured for an extended road trip, Dino began visiting shopping centers. In similar venues across the country, children reveled in the wonders of scaled prehistory, courtesy of Sinclair.
Indeed, many fair visitors fondly remember another marketing device at Sinclair’s Dinoland Pavilion. “Mold-A-Rama” machines that dispensed warm, plastic dinosaurs for 25 cents.
One of the New York World’s Fair dinosaurs would end up in Kansas.
Further, after traveling more than 10,000 miles through 25 states and 38 major cities, Dino retired to Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. He can still be seen there about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth. The Texas park contains some of the best-preserved dinosaur tracks in the world.
Sinclair Oil Company’s 70-foot Apatosaurus (and a 45-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex) are displayed in Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas. Photo courtesy Dinosaur Valley State Park.
“There are two fiberglass models,” the park notes about the 70-foot Apatosaurus and a 45-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex. The giant is described as “built under commission of the Sinclair Oil Company for New York World’s Fair Dinosaur Exhibit of 1964 – 1965.”
Corythosaurus in Kansas
Born in Benwood, West Virginia, today a Wheeling suburb, Sinclair grew up in Independence, Kansas. The Historical Museum there educates visitors with an “Oil Room” exhibiting Sinclair’s considerable mid-continent oilfield production and refining heritage.
Sinclair Oil Corporation distributed 48 million dinosaur stamps in a highly successful marketing campaign.
Accordingly on display in a nearby public park is Corythosaurus — one of the dinosaurs from Sinclair’s “Dinoland” exhibit. The museum’s Old Post Office building joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
“The museum’s permanent exhibits in 22 rooms tell stories of the early settlers’ lifestyle; the history of the oil industry; some of the Indian Culture collection and various historical artifacts,” explains the Historical Museum of Independence.
Young New York World’s Fair visitors recall Sinclair’s “Mold-A-Rama” machine that made a souvenir dinosaur for 25 cents. “See it formed right before your very eyes!” Two sides of a mold came together, producing a warm plastic dinosaur.
Teapot Dome
Lastly, although later a respected American industrialist, Harry Sinclair became implicated in the Teapot Dome Scandal. Jurors found Albert Fall, appointed Interior Secretary in 1921 by President Warren G. Harding, guilty of accepting a bribe in 1929. It marked the first felony conviction of a first cabinet member.
With full control of the Naval Petroleum Reserves, Fall had awarded noncompetitive leases to Sinclair’s Mammoth Oil Company for Teapot Dome oil reserves. Acquitted of giving a bribe, Harry Sinclair served six-and-a-half months in prison for contempt of court and the U.S. Senate. He died on November 10, 1956.
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Recommended Reading: The 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, Images of America (2004); The Exciting World of Dinosaurs, Sinclair Dinoland, New York World’s Fair 1964-65 (souvenir booklet); Teapot Dome Scandal (2009). Your Amazon purchase benefits the American Oil & Gas Historical Society. As an Amazon Associate, AOGHS earns a commission from qualifying purchases.
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The American Oil & Gas Historical Society (AOGHS) preserves U.S. petroleum history. Please become an AOGHS annual supporter and help maintain this energy education website and expand historical research. For more information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. © 2025 Bruce A. Wells. All rights reserved.
Citation Information – Article Title: “Dinosaur Fever – Sinclair’s Icon.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL: https://aoghs.org/oil-almanac/sinclair-dinosaur. Last Updated: May 21, 2025. Original Published Date: January 27, 2010.
