Background
The Oilmen’s Club of St Louis was founded in 1948, Harry Milton of Milton Oil Company was the first board president. The club was formed for both social and business reasons, and remains focused on both still to this day. Oilmen’s holds luncheons in January through May and October and November of each year. These luncheons focus on some aspect of the fuel/convenience business, with one lunch per year being dedicated to sports or political topics. Luncheons are usually held on the second Monday or Wednesday of the month.
Each spring the club attends a Cardinal baseball game. This is a very popular event, which includes rental of two suites at the ballpark, with food and drink for all. The new stadium has made this event even more enjoyable with the increase in quality and availability of suites.
Oilmen’s holds a spring and fall golf outing, usually in June and September. These are held at top local golf courses and include prizes for long drive, closest to the pin and scoring by flight.
In July Oilmen’s usually holds an event at Fairmont Park in Illinois, the local horse racing track. This popular event includes food and drink, as well as friendly betting on races.
One event per year rotates between hockey, football or basketball. This is the choice of the chair for that event, and has rotated to offer a variety to the membership.
The largest event each year is the annual Christmas Party. This is a celebration of the year and is held at nicer party venues throughout St Louis each year. The party also serves as the annual meeting where election of Board Members is held per the by-laws. The evening includes a sit-down meal, live band, dancing, and the award of money via drawings from attendance cards from the luncheons. Each attendee brings along a gift for the Toys for Tot campaign. Oilmen’s also awards a donation check to the campaign, represented by the local TFT Marines, at the party. This gala event is the highlight to the end of each year!
The club is run by a board of Directors who chair various committees including membership, house (lunch and board meeting locations), program (speakers), welfare (outreach to bereaved members), reception (lunch check-in), attendance (lunch check-in), finance, golf, baseball, races, Christmas party, and sponsorship (of events and golf holes).