Terrible Herbst
gas station company in Nevada, United States
Terrible Herbst or Terrible Herbst Oil Company is an American privately held gas station company based in Paradise, Nevada, United States.
The company operates gas stations in Nevada, California, Utah and Arizona.
History
The company's roots go back to a single Chicago, Illinois, gas station in 1938. The owner of Martin Oil, Edward R. Herbst, was credited with becoming "the P. T. Barnum of gasoline" by engaging in unusual marketing strategies, undercutting the competition with low prices, and pioneering the convenience store model. According to his son, Jerry, each time the elder Herbst would open a new gas station, competitors would bemoan the move: "Here comes that terrible Herbst", inspiring the chain's nickname. Alternatively, the name is traced to a specific incident that occurred in the late 1940s as Herbst was moving to the western United States; when applying for a business license in Cheyenne, Wyoming, one of the city councilmembers (who owned a competing gas station) was overheard saying "If we let that terrible Herbst in, we'll all go under!"
Ed (1910–66) and his wife Lorraine (1909–73) had two children: Dolly (1932–2001), a model who married actor Wild Bill Elliott and Jerry (1938–2018), a businessman. The site of the Herbst family's original Las Vegas-area home is now part of the MGM Grand Las Vegas resort property. Jerry graduated from the University of Southern California in 1959 and returned to Las Vegas to help with the family business, rebranding it as the Terrible Herbst Oil Co. that year. Both Dolly and Jerry had executive positions in Terrible's.
“Terrible Herbst” enters the record as gas station company in Nevada, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Terrible, Herbst and station can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Terrible Herbst” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Terrible, Herbst and station provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7703648. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1938, 1910, 1909 and 1932.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Terrible Herbst”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Terrible Herbst primary sources, Terrible Herbst archive and Terrible research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Terrible Herbst”?
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- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Terrible Herbst” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.