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Blue Star Gas is enjoying its’ 75th successful year in business under the management of the third generation of the Stewart family. Paul Stewart initially purchased the business in 1945, Bill Stewart joined the business in 1954, and Jeff Stewart joined the company in 1996. Both Bill and Jeff are active participants in the full service propane distribution business today.

In 1938, Dwight Knapp, the owner of the Knapp Family Restaurant, installed an underground propane pipeline to provide gas to his restaurant. Over time, Mr. Knapp began connecting neighbors in the downtown area to the underground gas system and started selling propane to the general public. As the city grew, so did the underground utility and became the foundation on which Blue Star Gas was built.

In 1945, Paul Stewart purchased the business from the Knapp family while continuing to run his stock brokerage firm of Stewart, Meyerson & Briggs in San Francisco. At that time the business consisted of just three employees and the one office in Garberville. The underground utility, which is still in service today, is the oldest propane utility service registered with the P.U.C.in the State of California. Blue Star Gas proudly serves many of these founding customers to this day with the industries finest customer service.

In 1954, Bill Stewart joined the company and the name was changed to Blue Star Gas. That same year, Blue Star Gas acquired its’ second underground distribution system and retail propane distribution operation in the town of Crescent City, CA.  In 1967, Blue Star acquired Clear Gas, a propane company in Clear Lake, CA.  In 1966, the Stewart family started a wholesale trucking and supply company called Star Tank Lines to supply the Blue Star Gas retail facilities, as well as other retail propane companies and industrial customers. In 1969, Blue Star started its’ fourth propane distribution operation in Santa Rosa, CA. In 1986, the company built an office in Brookings, OR and was delivering propane from the Santa Rosa, CA to Bandon, OR, representing a service area 300 miles long and operating in six counties. In 1990, the company needed better flexibility for its propane supply and built a new railroad supply terminal in Grants Pass, OR. It also conducted retail operations to the general public from that location to the Southern OR communities surrounding Medford. In 1994, Blue Star acquired Northstar Propane in the town of Mt. Shasta and began to serve all of Siskiyou County and parts of Shasta County. In 1998, Blue Star acquired the Medford, OR operation of All Star Gas and moved its retail operations from Grants Pass to the Medford location. In 2000, Blue Star built its second rail terminal to ensure superior supply of propane to its customers in Redding, CA. In 2004, Blue Star acquired Willamette Propane in McMinnville, OR. In 2008, Blue Star opened their tenth location in Eugene, OR.

From these beginnings, we have grown to cover a service area of over 45,000 square miles and currently serve nine markets in Northern CA and OR. Through developing technologies and improved practices, Blue Star Gas is transforming the industry standard for customer service.