After World War I, W. W. Gresham Sr. returned to Indianola and worked for his father W. P. Gresham and his uncle T. J. Gresham in Gresham Brothers, which was a general merchandise and clothing store on Main Street in Indianola where the Enterprise Tocsin newspaper business is now located.

In 1920 and 1921, W. W. Gresham built a service station on the southwest corner of Percy Street and Front Avenue. It was the first drive-in service station in the Mississippi Delta having two pumps and two driveways for cars to use. It also had washing and greasing facilities and equipment to repair flat tires. The station sold unbranded gasoline that Mr. Gresham bought from several sources. He installed three 18,000 gallon tanks on a vacant lot on Mill Street, which was on a rail siding of the Columbus and Greenville Railway.

In the early 20's, he started installing brand powered gasoline pumps at various locations around Indianola and delivered gasoline to them in a 600-gallon tank truck. The gasoline was loaded on the trucks by gravity since they were elevated on steel racks about seven feet tall. The gasoline was unloaded from the trucks into underground tanks where the pumps were located. Pumps were installed in the late 20's.

In 1926, Mr. Gresham was selling a lot of gasoline, kerosene, and tractor fuel, so he formed a jobber ship that obtained all of his petroleum needs from Pan America Petroleum Company, a subsidery of Standard Oil Company of Indiana. The product was branded under the name, Panama.

In 1933, he had three service stations. Two of them were located in Indianola and one was located in Isola, so he incorporated them under the name of Gresham Service Stations, Inc. The incorporators were W. W. Gresham, Georgia D. Gresham (his wife) and Dewitt Pittman (his cousin).

The business grew over the years in the central delta. He obtained the Ford Automobile and Ford Tractor dealership, which was incorporated as Indianola Motor Company in 1935. He hired Wright Sory from Isola to run it. In 1939, he obtained the Frigidaire franchise for household appliances.

In 1947, he went into the LP Gas business, operating it under the W. W. Gresham Distributor Business. His son, W. W. Gresham, Jr., had returned from service in World War II and was enrolled at the University of Mississippi. He graduated in 1948 and was married in September to Ann Hopkins from Gulfport.

The business continued to grow and Bill Gresham was called into the army in January 1951 to serve for two years in the Korean War. He returned to work in October 1952.

The petroleum and LP gas business continued to grow, so the decision was made to form a corporation. This was done in August 1958, and named the Gresham Petroleum Company to take over the operation of the W. W. Gresham Distribution. W. W. Gresham Sr., W.W. Gresham Jr., and John McPherson were the incorporators.

Georgia Ann Gresham, daughter of W. W. Gresham Sr., married John McPherson. They moved to Indianola and John entered business with his main duty to run Gresham Service stations. He worked in the Gresham Petroleum Company also. Bill Gresham and John McPherson felt the company needed to expand to other areas, so they bought the Amoco petroleum business of J. E. Pond in February 1965, forming Gresham McPherson Oil Company in Greenwood, MS. They were the only stockholders with Jes Pond, who managed the business.

In December 1966, Bill and John purchased R. B. Gill's LP Gas Business in Louise, MS. They formed the business R. B. Gill Company. A man by the name of E. L. Faulkenberry managed this business. There were no special arrangements between the Greenwood, Louise, and the Gresham Petroleum Company at this time.

In February of 1972, Monty Horne had a Southland jobber ship in Inverness. He was not doing very much business and approached Bill and John about going into business. They agreed on a layout and formed Horne Petroleum Company in Inverness. The incorporators were Bill Gresham, John McPherson, Monty Horne, Walton Gresham, and Buster Holloway.

In March 1972, Delta Terminal, Inc. was formed. The stockholders were Bill Gresham, John McPherson, James Sumrall, Andrew Morrison, and Archie Sterling. Property was purchased on Lake Ferguson in Greenville, MS to erect a petroleum products terminal on the Mississippi River. It would receive petroleum products by barge from refineries to be farther distributed to trucks for distribution to petroleum product jobbers in the Delta Terminal. The Terminal delivered products to Gresham Petroleum Company who then delivered products to their customers.

In October 1977, John and Bill purchased the Amoco jobber ship of Joe Carr in Belzoni and merged R. B. Gill Co. into it by buying out E. L. Faulkenberry. The new company formed was now called Gresham-McPherson Oil Company of Belzoni. Bill Gresham, John McPherson, and Walton Gresham were the incorporators and officers in the new company.

On November 9, 1978, W. W. Gresham Sr. passed away and his estate was divided between Bill Gresham, John and Georgia McPherson, and Walton Gresham. Each of them have been principal owners and stockholders since the estate was settled in 1979.

In February 1984, Bill and John formed a convenience store company named Double Quick, Inc. They purchased about 17 stores from Lewis Grocer Company and added several they had already built. This company expanded into a large chain and is now owned by Bill McPherson and Tom Gresham, with the assistance of Walton Gresham.

In 1988 Gresham Petroleum Co. purchased Thigpen Petroleum Co., a Chevron jobber in Cleveland. Gresham Petroleum at this time served customers with Amoro and Chevron products. In 1995 Gresham Petroleum Co. bought out zero Butane Co. in Inverness and Belzoni. In 1998 Amoro Oil Co. sold out to BP oil company. In September 2005 John Mc Pherson passed away after 45 years in the petroleum business in Indianola and the Delta