North State Gas Service

North State Gas Service traces its origins to 1938, a time when propane was a novel product to many households. B.B. Byers was recently retired from a 36-year career with the Standard Oil Company, and his son James was approaching graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When B.B. suggested that distributing propane for Standard under the company's "Essotane" brand could hold promise for James to create his own business, his son warmed to the idea. James chose the name "B.B. Byers & Sons," to allow for the possibility that his older brother Henry and his younger brother Tom might someday join the new enterprise. With James Byers serving initially as the only full-time employee, and the Byers family home in Shelby serving as a base, the business began to gain a foothold in the marketplace. But World War II soon intervened. All three Byers sons entered military service, James arranging as best he could for the company's customers to continue to be served. During the course of the war, both Henry and Tom Byers tragically lost their lives as pilots in the Army Air Corps. James returned from his Army service in 1946 and resumed operation of the company, but his father's declining health no longer permitted his participation. James enlisted a partner, Emory Deviney, an area Standard Oil distributor. They created a corporation, christened it North State Gas Service, and constructed a small bulk plant in Forest City. The site of that plant remains the...