Old gas stations

[LizzieMaine]

There's an excellent book on general gas station design that came out in the mid-90s called "The Gas Station In America: Creating The North American Landscape" by architectural historians John Jalke and Keith Sculle. This is one in a series of books they wrote on American roadside architecture, and is a serious academic study of how such architecture fits into the overall cultural landscape of the 20th Century. They devote quite a bit of study to the Pure cottage stations, and to C. A. Petersen, who designed them. This isn't a casual nostalgia book, but if you're seriously interested in the place of the gas station in popular architectural history, this is the one book you want on your shelf.

 

[3fingers]

The end of the local station was a huge blow to small towns whether they realized it at the time or not. They were community gathering places that kept a lot of people from becoming isolated and they provided services that were otherwise not available without going to larger towns. No you probably can't get a pizza or a jug of overpriced milk from one, but the local Kwikstop won't replace your alternator or repair a flat either. It was much easier and far cheaper to limp or drag your car 3 blocks to get a crapped out u-joint replaced than to have it towed 25 miles for the same service.

 

[2jakes]

The end of the local station was a huge blow to small towns whether they realized it at the time or not. They were community gathering places that kept a lot of people from becoming isolated and they provided services that were otherwise not available without going to larger towns. No you probably can't get a pizza or a jug of overpriced milk from one, but the local Kwikstop won't replace your alternator or repair a flat either. It was much easier and far cheaper to limp or drag your car 3 blocks to get a crapped out u-joint replaced than to have it towed 25 miles for the same service.

IH-35 hurt a lot of small business shops
including gas stations.

 

[1mach1]

IH-35 hurt a lot of small business shops
including gas stations.

As did all of the interstates. Great for travel, but only if you want to make good time.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The end of the local station was a huge blow to small towns whether they realized it at the time or not. They were community gathering places that kept a lot of people from becoming isolated and they provided services that were otherwise not available without going to larger towns. No you probably can't get a pizza or a jug of overpriced milk from one, but the local Kwikstop won't replace your alternator or repair a flat either. It was much easier and far cheaper to limp or drag your car 3 blocks to get a crapped out u-joint replaced than to have it towed 25 miles for the same service.

Our station was very much a local gathering place -- not just for the usual crusty loafers you always found kibitzing around drinking soda and BSing about the Red Sox, but also for neighborhood kids. It's where we went to pump up our bike tires, or use the toilet when we were out roaming, and some mothers even left their kids there when they went to the store. Babysitting was not an official part of Texaco Circle Service, but it seemed to be at our place.

 

[Fading Fast]

The station I worked at in the '70s was in a town, but on a kinda busy access road and not immediately adjacent to a residential area (about a half mile walk to the first residences) but even so, it was a quasi gathering place. Mainly, but not exclusively, men would come by, hang out a bit, buy a soda, kid around with the on-the-surface cranky owner who was alway working on repairs while I handled the pumping of the gas.

Funny, though, re Lizzie's comments, as every so often a mother would leave her kid with us for an hour or so to run this or that errand and the owner would bark at the kid to stay in the office as there was too much traffic in the station for a kid to be wondering around. And the mother was always a friend of the owner's wife - that was the connect.

I have been out of that town for over thirty years; the owner would be in his late 80s or 90s if still with us despite his unfiltered-cigarette smoking habit and breathing in gasoline fumes for sixty-plus years. I have no idea, but really, really doubt that station - that business model - could still be going today even with a new owner.

 

[2jakes]

1936 Ford Coupe

 

[BobHufford]

I posted the station at this intersection before, but here is a photo that shows a bit of it (Skelly to the right) back in 1953 (Springfield, Missouri). Wreck of a '33 Pontiac convertible and a '53 (?) Chevy delivery truck.

 

[1mach1]

I posted the station at this intersection before, but here is a photo that shows a bit of it (Skelly to the right) back in 1953 (Springfield, Missouri). Wreck of a '33 Pontiac convertible and a '53 (?) Chevy delivery truck.

View attachment 114592

View attachment 114593

Thats cool Bob! I like that Pontiac.

 

[1mach1]

I like this one

 

[2jakes]

 

[Ghostsoldier]

There's an excellent book on general gas station design that came out in the mid-90s called "The Gas Station In America: Creating The North American Landscape" by architectural historians John Jalke and Keith Sculle. This is one in a series of books they wrote on American roadside architecture, and is a serious academic study of how such architecture fits into the overall cultural landscape of the 20th Century. They devote quite a bit of study to the Pure cottage stations, and to C. A. Petersen, who designed them. This isn't a casual nostalgia book, but if you're seriously interested in the place of the gas station in popular architectural history, this is the one book you want on your shelf.

That's perfect, Lizzie... thanks for the info; I'll be seeking out this book, as soon as I can. [emoji6][emoji106]

Rob

 

[Frunobulax]

I like this one

So do I. Thirty-three cents a gallon? Hoo baby, that's hot!

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[David Conwill]

The above is actually from the Watervliet, New York, "Tri-City Yacht Basin," and not a gas station per se, but gosh I like that "Hi-Rev" fuel can.

 

[2jakes]

 

[2jakes]

 

[2jakes]

Country store & gas pump @ Gordonton, North Carolina 1939
(DOROTHEA LANGE)

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob