Company Culture
Where it all Began…
Central Oil & Supply’s employees are proud to work for a company that is steeped with a deep sense of purpose and rich history. Our founding family, the Sherrouse family, has contributed to Louisiana history since 1828.
Sherrouse Medicine Co. of New Orleans was founded when brothers John Monroe Sherrouse and William Jasper Sherrouse became partners with Dr. G. H. Tichenor in 1885 as manufacturers of the famous Dr. Tichenor’s Antiseptic–a liquid “specific for healing wounds, burns, etc, which soon became a very popular house-hold remedy.”
William John Sherrouse, William Jasper’s son and founder of Central Oil & Supply, was born in February 1888, in Franklin Parish. William’s father died when he was just 14, so it was then that he got his feel for managing a business of his own: the family farm.
The first Circle S station opened in 1926 in Gulfport, Mississippi. Soon after, William John Sherrouse was operating stations in Fayette, Hazelhurst, and Gulfport; it was a year later that the family made the decision to move their headquarters to Monroe, Louisiana.
In 1928, the business that operated the Circle S stations became incorporated under the name W. J. & C. Sherrouse, Inc. It would not be until 1935 that all six Central S and two Circle S stations became organized and incorporated for the sale of wholesale petroleum under the name Central Oil & Supply Corp.
In 1972 one chapter closed and a new one began, as John Hardeman Cordell IV (husband of W. J. Sherrouse’s granddaughter) became president of the company. COS has since opened two additional facilities, one in Shreveport and in Baton Rouge, that help us better serve the entire state of Louisiana and greater surrounding areas. Also while Mr. Cordell operated in this capacity, he founded COS’s line of convenience stores, the Central Station Stores, in the early 1980s.
We Believe In
- Having a Positive Attitude
- Doing the Right Thing
- Having a Team Mindset
- Being Humbly Confident
- Being Dedicated and Committed
- Striving for Excellence
At Central Oil & Supply, it is not just our job, but our heritage, to deliver quality products and superior service.