History Images of vintage gas stations ~ pre 65

Tulsa, Oklahoma 40's

 

Susanville, California Hwy 395, both sides of the street.

 

These three young ladies are all dressed up and standing with their dad at his Sinclair Pennant station most likely along Route 66, circa 1935.
In 1928 William Clay Pierce embarked upon a business enterprise to link the chain of Pierce-Pennant gas stations with motor hotels and restaurants. The plan was to establish roadside hotels and taverns approximately every 125 miles on Route 66, connecting Chicago and Los Angeles. In July 1928, the company opened the Pierce-Pennant Motor Hotel in Springfield, Missouri. This first motor hotel complex included a bus terminal, restaurant, soda fountain, restrooms, gas station, automobile shop, and car washing facilities. Other Pierce-Pennant hotels and taverns opened later in Rolla & Columbia, Missouri, and in Miami & Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1930 Pierce abandoned this business enterprise and sold the chain to Henry Sinclair of the Sinclair Refining Company, who later renamed the chain the Sinclair-Pennant Hotels.

 

Fayetteville, Tx

 

In 1947, Art Lacey purchased a B-17 bomber for $13,000 and flew it from Oklahoma to Troutdale. He then disassembled it, transported it covertly, and placed it atop his 48-pump gas station.

 

Thats the Bomber on McLaughlin. If memory serves there were a couple good steak 2 fer joints nearby. I hear they are restoring the B-17 to originally flying condition.

 

Thanks for posting this..
He bought one, but wrecked at least one (some reports say two) before he could get off the ground in Texas! (He made a claim to the Army Air Corps that the first one was defective, even though his crash was pilot error, and got a replacement(s) at no charge). Local legend is that he taxied the plane from the Troutdale airport to very close to the gas station location late at night when he figured he could be off the road before he got busted. There have been more than one version of the story...
There was access to the interior of the bomber before vandals and old age/deterioration took their toll. It was removed from the property about 10 or 12 years ago and plans are for it to be restored into a static display. I haven't heard any updates on that progress.

 

About 5 mi W of the Gasconade River Bridge is the site of this former stop on Rt. 66.

 

This is a photo of a Phillips 66 service station at NW 36 & Shartel on Route 66 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, circa the early 1950s. You can see the "66 Belt Line For Trucks" sign at the base of the stop light.

 

Thanks for the many great pictures @Dave Mc

 

WOW.....If I had a time machine, that is exactly the era I would go back to !! Everything a small town in America should be.......including the dirt track coupe stock car sitting at the edge of what is most likely a gas station. Back in the 1950's-60's when I was growing up, it was very common for local gas stations to be the "speed shop" that built and maintained old race cars. Was great advertising for the gas station.....other sponsors.....and most of all the races coming up on Saturday night.

 

Belgrade, Me.

 

@Dave Mc


Hello,

After a harrowing drive from our tent abode in the Yosemite Village Campgrounds, we went on the most harrowing drive in all of California. Tioga Pass… downhill to the desert flatlands… Our family has/had been on plenty of roads/highways in So Cal, down through 100 miles + in Baja Mexico and all the way up/down the coast of California near Big Sur heading to San Francisco. Our dad did all of the driving. Never once did we all grab the side arm rests and hang on for “dear life.”

No messing around in the back seat for the brothers as we looked out once and not again until the above photo popped into vision all around us. It was the only moment where our mom was speechless and did not turn around to give us a few choice words about our conversation or conduct.

The serene forests, several miles South of the City of Lee Vining in 1957, just off of Highway 395. It was a welcomed sight and a well deserved rest for a few days.

Jnaki


The red wavy line is possibly the most dangerous road in California. It is closed during the winter months due to serious accidents. Or prepping not to have accidents by skidding downhill, off of the tall cliffside road. Despite some barriers, so many accidents happened that the road began to close during the winter months. It might have something to do with the angle of the road, the steep drop canyon below, the possible rock slides on the steep mountain sides and finally, once headed down hill in normal times, the view of the whole valley below.

Anyone needing to get to the inland side of the tall mountain range had to drive 100 plus miles on other roads to get from the middle of California to the desert side on Highway 395.

Note:

Our family has been on this road downhill in three other cars. It does not matter which car is used, it is the driving carefully that is the essence of survival. My wife and I have been in the Red El Camino and the small cab area just made it as if we were already to go over the side… yikes!

Plus, it was daytime for all of our downhill road trips. Who would think of driving this highway at night needs some brain surgery of some kind… YRMV

 

This is a gas station on Route 66 in Needles, CA in 1956. Owners name was Fred Lyon and he is man on the left in this picture.

 

St. Louis, Mo.

 

Rte. 66 Victorville, Ca. -1940s

 

Jack's Texaco and Cafe
Jack's Texaco and cafe was located out 1st Street (U.S. 91), just below Irwin Road. Originally built and owned by Jack Belcher, it was later purchased by J.G. Hollis who ran it for many years. Today, all that remains of the station is its foundation.

 

Good location for a Loan office with todays prices

 

Before the PC Police showed up

 

North Carolina. Rural filling stations become community centers and general loafing grounds. The men in the baseball suits are on a local team which will play a game nearby. They are called the Cedargrove Team...

 

Thoreau, New Mexico

 

Mike Parkinson owned and operated the Hancock Station in Pleasant Hill on Contra Costa Blvd. in the 1960s near the entrance to 680 south. He had a heart for people in need and often gave used but still good tires to folks who came in with flats but had no money to purchase a new tire. He never charged for changing a tire.

 

Currently being restored at the Salem, OR. airport..

 

I grew up in a Ma & Pa grocery store/gas station that my parents had. We sold Hancock until the early/mid '60s when we switched to Signal.
Side note: My parents had the same "helping hand" outlook on business. It seems like the folks who weathered the "Great Depression" had more compassion for, and understanding of, people who were going through hard times. We carried a lot of people "on the books", never had anyone skip out on paying a tab, and in about 25 years of business only had ONE bad check! My parents never got rich, but we always had a roof over our heads, food on the table and clothes on our backs. The payback was that at each of their funerals (years after they had retired from the business) I had numerous people tell me how thankful they were for the help my Mom and Dad had given them during lean times. That kind of legacy is better than money in the bank in my book!!!!!! I'm sure glad I had that kind of upbring rather than the greedy, money hungry attitude that seems to be prevalent today!