Question: What is the name of the character representing oilfield workers created for advertisements by the Lone Star Steel Company?
Answer: Joe Roughneck. Texas artist Torg Thompson created the square-jawed, helmet-wearing character for the company’s advertisements in the 1950s. Lone Star Steel presented its first “Chief Roughneck Award” in 1955, and in 1957, the first of several Joe Roughneck monuments was erected in Joinerville, near the site of the East Texas Oilfield discovered by Columbus Marion “Dad” Joiner in 1930. Similar monuments were later installed in Conroe, Boonsville, and Kilgore.
Following the success of the advertising campaign, Lone Star Steel, which was eventually acquired by U.S. Steel, proclaimed that Joe Roughneck is “as universal as a rotary rig” and “doesn’t belong to us anymore.” An exhibit at Henderson’s Depot Museum describes the character as “rough and tough, sage and salty, capable and reliable, shrewd but honest.”
