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In 1944 George Dowler was employed by Imperial Oil and was given the opportunity to become the Imperial Oil Agent for the St Thomas area. During this period his daughter Joyce assisted him as his bookkeeper and worked in a 10' X 10' building adjacent to the Imperial Oil facility, located at 105 Flora St. in St Thomas. In the late 40's and early 50's, homeowners were actively switching their heating systems from coal to furnace fuel. With the business expanding rather quickly, Imperial Oil felt it necessary to create two distributors - one would become the Home Comfort dealer, supplying home heating fuel, while the other would become the Farm Trade Agent supplying fuels to the farming sector. George Dowler decided to keep the Home Comfort division and remained operating as "Dowler Fuels". At this time Joyce Dowler was dating a young man by the name of Jack Karn who was employed as a butcher at the Dominion grocery store. George Dowler and Imperial Oil approached Jack and insisted he take over the Farm Trade business. Jack agreed to try a new career and the new agency was formed under the name "Jack Karn Fuels" Jack and Joyce were married in 1954 as Joyce continued answering the phone and performing office duties throughout the continuing years. Both businesses operated successfully throughout the years. In 1967 George Dowler, Jack Karn and Imperial Oil Ltd, jointly decided to amalgamate the two agencies, with this a new company was created – “Dowler-Karn Limited” Sadly on June 10th. 1970 George Dowler passed away. In 1973 Dowler-Karn put their first tandem fuel delivery truck into service, one of the first of its kind to be operated in Ontario. In 1978, Jack and Joyce’s oldest son, John Karn, graduated from high school and assumed a role working full time within the company. The year was 1979 when Jack made a business decision that would turn out to be a defining moment for him and the company. Dowler-Karn was losing fuel customers, not to the regular fuel competitors, but to a relatively new fuel -- Propane. Home heating, vehicle fleets and even tobacco curing kilns were switching to this alternative fuel. It was at this point that Dowler-Karn ventured into the Propane business. This would allow Dowler-Karn to supply both petroleum products and propane to their customers. In 1983, Dave Karn joined the company full time after graduating from high school. Dave was followed shortly thereafter, in 1984, by Barb Molinaro, Jack & Joyce's daughter, who also began to work full time for the company. Through out the years, the business continued to grow. In 1985, realizing that the company had out grown its location on Flora St., Dowler-Karn purchased property on Hwy # 3 east of St. Thomas from Bill Thompson of Thompson Transport. This location has continued to be the head office of Dowler-Karn Limited through to today. Another major step for Jack was taken in 1987 when he completed a deal with Imperial Oil to purchase the customer list and become one of the first "Branded Resellers" in Canada. This allowed Dowler-Karn Limited to operate out from under the dictates of Imperial Oil, giving them full control of the day to day operations of the business. Lacey Fuels, a Sunoco agent in St Thomas was purchased in 1987 from Robert Lacey. Ball Truck and Auto Repair was purchased from Ted Ball and moved to the Hwy # 3 property in 1990. This acquisition provided two benefits to the company, as the company was now able to perform their own MTO inspections and vehicle maintenance for an ever-growing fleet, while providing conversion services for those customers who wish to convert their vehicles to propane. Maple City Gas and Oil, the largest heating oil supplier in London with a second office in Lucan, was purchased from Bob Gilbert in 1992. Sarnia Propane, with offices operating in Sarnia and Chatham, was purchased by Dowler-Karn in 1993 from Ross McEachran. This is a major purchase that almost doubles the size of Dowler-Karn’s propane operations. That same year Dowler-Karn was offered the Imperial Oil agency in St. Mary's which was operated by Victor Hearn for many years. Dowler-Karn purchased the accounts and took over operations from the Imperial Oil property located on 509 Queen St. West. It was only two years later in 1995 when Dowler-Karn purchased Hammond Propane from Chum Hammond which operated in the St. Mary's / Stratford area. This acquisition allowed Dowler-Karn to expand propane operations into a market in which they already had a presence through their petroleum product division. 1996 was a very busy year for the company. The St.Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce presents Dowler-Karn with the "Free Enterprise Award” at its annual banquet. The award is in recognition of their significant contributions, not only in the business community, but to the St. Thomas & Elgin County community as a whole. With the company’s ever-expanding propane business, Jack Karn becomes one of the driving forces behind the formation of the Ontario Propane Association. Dowler-Karn is recognized as one of the founding members with Jack Karn becoming the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. Also Jack becomes a member of the Propane Advisory Council of the TSSA. As 1996 was winding up, Dowler-Karn acquired Elgin County Fuels, an independent fuel distributor operating in St. Thomas and Elgin County. This customer base was absorbed into the St. Thomas operations. In 1999, Neville Fuels, an Olco fuel distributor in St. Thomas was purchased from Don Neville. In 2002, Dave Karn becomes Chair of the Ontario Propane Association's "Emergency Response Assistance Plan" (ERAP Plan). In 2002 Dowler-Karn expanded their operating footprint into Oxford County with the acquisition of Dodsley Fuels from Dave Dodsley. Dodsley Fuels was the Imperial Oil Branded Reseller serving Oxford County, with offices in Tillsonburg, Woodstock and Norwich. In 2003 Jack Karn steps down from the Ontario Propane Association's board of directors and the TSSA Propane Advisory Council. The same year Dave Karn puts his name forward for a position in both roles and is elected to both the OPA Board of Directors as well as the Propane Advisory Council. Dowler-Karn purchases the Bulk Lube delivery trucks in Sarnia from Imperial Oil and takes over making all the deliveries to Imperial Oil customers throughout Southwestern Ontario. The St. Mary's branch is relocated to a new facility in the village of Rannoch which includes a fuel keylock, propane re-fill centre, lube warehouse and a propane truck filling plant. In 2004 Ball Truck & Auto is certified by Transport Canada to perform visual and pressure tests on tank vehicles. That same year Ball Truck and Auto repair moved into a brand new fully equipped 16,000 square foot repair facility located just east of the existing offices in St. Thomas. The move proves to be most beneficial to our mechanics as they are now provided with much larger facilities, allowing for a significant increase in productivity. The original service bays on the south end of the main building in St. Thomas is converted to much needed warehouse space. After 61 years of employment in the Dowler-Karn organization, and one of the founders of the company, Joyce Karn retires from her position as Credit Manager. She is forced to leave her full time position due to vision issues, but quickly settles into retirement to enjoy time with her family and friends. Joyce continues as a director of the company. December 4th. 2006 at 10 am. Jack Karn returns from a trip to London, not realizing that he had suffered a stroke during his trip. Jack is taken to St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital and admitted. By 1 pm. doctors have sedated him for comfort. Sadly on December 7th. 2006, Jack Karn passed away in his 75th year. Joyce Karn takes over in the role of company president, as David, John and Barb take on roles originally filled by their parents. In 2007 Dave Karn became the Chairman of The Propane Advisory Council with the TSSA. In 2009 J&D Cooper Oil Limited, the Imperial Oil Reseller in Chatham, is purchased from Doug Cooper which will now give Dowler-Karn the ability to serve both Petroleum Products and Propane to their customers in the Chatham Kent area. The facilities used by the Chatham operations are owned by Imperial Oil, and have become inadequate over the years. Thus, Dowler-Karn is in the planning stages to build a new facility immediately to the south of the existing Imperial Oil facility, to house both the newly-acquired petroleum operations and the existing propane operations, currently located about 2 kilometers to the south. The new facility is expected to be ready for occupancy in early 2010.
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