| 1932 |
Crystal Flash was founded by John E Fehsenfeld with one old truck and a rented fuel storage facility in Indianapolis, IN. |
| 1936 |
Frank Fehsenfeld, John’s oldest son, moved to Grand Rapids, MI to operated a Grand Rapids based wholesale petroleum distributorship. |
| 1938 |
Frank and his brother Jack Jr. entered the retail fuel market with a small filling station in Ionia called F&J’s. |
| 1940 |
CFE with having seven gas station, entered the home heating business selling heating oil for 6c a gallon. |
| 1946 |
Crystal Flash fuel oil business ran around 900,000 gallons when coal workers went out on strike forcing homeowners to switch to fuel oil. |
| 1949 |
Carl Henry, a Crystal Flash dealer, gave a new image to gasoline sales: a white station, white curbs, white uniforms and service 24 hours a day. |
| 1955 |
The very first edition of the Crystal Flash News went out to team members. |
| 1959 |
Crystal Flash was noted as the largest distributor of heating oil in Grand Rapids. |
| 1965 |
Crystal Flash grew to 18 stations and the price of gas was 31.6c per gallon. |
| 1968 |
Bernie Follett, Station Manager whose volume was up 12.6% over the previous year said: “We take advantage of the automatic nozzle and use the time it takes to fill the gas tank to clean tail lights, head lights, and all the windows…” |
| 1970 |
The second coldest January n 50 years kept fuel oil drivers working seven days a week making sure all our customers needs are met. |
| 1971 |
Crystal Flash designed two new stations in Allegan and Battle Creek with displays to sell milk, eggs, bread and ice cream instead of automotive service bays. |
| 1974 |
Crystal Flash prepared fro the introduction of lead-free gasoline by installing special tanks and nozzles. |
| 1975 |
Crystal Flash in Paw Paw became the first in Michigan to offer self-serve gas. |
| 1977 |
Crystal Flash begins to offer a Budget Plan to fuel oil customers. |
| 1978 |
Crystal Flash purchased the first computer to help with bookkeeping. |
| 1982 |
Waste Oil Department was started. |
| 1988 |
Crystal Flash entered propane business with one 30,000 gallon tank and a few 500 gallons tanks. |
| 1989 |
Crystal Flash expanded into commercial fleet fueling and made a commitment to the natural environment by upgrading underground storage tanks many years before EPA requirement. |
| 1990 |
The Persian Gulf war reduced the world supply of crude oil as our shocked customers saw their bills nearly double in just 60 days. |
| 2000 |
Crystal Flash exited the gas retail business by selling 32 gas stations to Speedway. |
| 2001 |
Crystal Flash built two large wind generators located near Michigan Mackinac Bridge. |
| 2003 |
Crystal Flash becomes US Coast Guard certified for the transfers of fuels into marine vessels. |
| 2004 |
Crystal Flash introduced biodiesel to its customers. |
| 2005 |
Crystal Flash sent a crew to help with hurricane relief efforts. |
| 2007 |
Crystal Flash Energy commitment to developing renewable energy resources and supporting local economy lead to expending biodiesel usage into all lines of products. |
| 2008 |
Crystal Flash supplied fuel to Hurricane affected areas. |
| 2008 |
For the third consecutive year, CFE was named a “Carrier of the Year” in safety performance by Marathon Petroleum LLC. |
