Old gas stations

[Ghostsoldier]

Another period one...

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

This one is in St. Augustine, Florida...

Rob

 

[LizzieMaine]

Although Pure started that "quaint little cottage" trend in the '20s, other companies also used it. Cities Service built a lot of them as well, usually in stucco or brick. The definitive characteristic was the gable front with a glass inset of the company's delta-in-a-trefoil logo.

Often the logo glass will have been long since broken or replaced with something else, but you can usually tell where it was.

 

[BobHufford]

Another period one...
View attachment 66145

Rob -- that looks like the one in McLean, Texas. Home of the Devil's Rope Museum and Barbed Wire Hall of Fame (my wife's Granddad was a member).

 

[BobHufford]

1953 -- across from the only High School in Springfield at the time.

Today:

 

[Fading Fast]

Another period one...
View attachment 66145

Rob

"I am a full adult-sized gas station, I am!"

"Um, sure you are buddy."


That is one heck of a cute station.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob -- that looks like the one in McLean, Texas. Home of the Devil's Rope Museum and Barbed Wire Hall of Fame (my wife's Granddad was a member).

It could be, Bob...I found it online, but it's a wonderful little station.

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Speaking of Sinclair stations...here's one of the dinosaur versions, circa 1960:

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

And, a New England United Co-op station, circa 1930...

Rob

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Although Pure started that "quaint little cottage" trend in the '20s, other companies also used it. Cities Service built a lot of them as well, usually in stucco or brick. The definitive characteristic was the gable front with a glass inset of the company's delta-in-a-trefoil logo.

Often the logo glass will have been long since broken or replaced with something else, but you can usually tell where it was.

Thanks for this info, Lizzie...now I'll know this brand, when I see one in the flesh.

Rob

 

[BobHufford]

1968 (somewhere in Kansas...)

 

[BobHufford]

Late 1950s in Springfield, Missouri.

Today:

 

[BobHufford]

Tod's Motel and Station in Cabool, Missouri.

1955 Postcard:

2007 Street View:

Another angle:

This is across the street:

 

[BobHufford]

This station is mid-town in Springfield, MO. It currently appears to be a residence, but I remember a beauty shop in there for awhile. I can't think of another existing limestone station in the area.

 

[BobHufford]

I may have posted this one before. This was across from the VW dealership in the '60s here in Springfield.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Hottest Brand Going", used by Conoco in the 1950s, has got to be the dopiest slogan any company ever used. It's the sort of thing a bunch of brand consultants who never talked to anyone else but other brand consultants would come up with. It tells the consumer nothing, it raises no expectation of quality products or service, and offers nothing but a limp attempt at bandwagoning.

The advertising campaigns were pretty lame too - the iconic image used in the ads was of a cowboy thrusting a red-hot branding iron with the Conoco logo directly into the face of the reader. Yeah, that'll get me buying.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Hottest Brand Going", used by Conoco in the 1950s, has got to be the dopiest slogan any company ever used. It's the sort of thing a bunch of brand consultants who never talked to anyone else but other brand consultants would come up with. It tells the consumer nothing, it raises no expectation of quality products or service, and offers nothing but a limp attempt at bandwagoning.

The advertising campaigns were pretty lame too - the iconic image used in the ads was of a cowboy thrusting a red-hot branding iron with the Conoco logo directly into the face of the reader. Yeah, that'll get me buying.

It's certainly no "Put a Tiger in the Tank." Now that was a Boys From Marketing classic.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Our local high school used to be the Tigers, and for many years a former Esso fiberglass tiger was displayed on the front of the school building.

 

[David Conwill]

And, a New England United Co-op station, circa 1930...

View attachment 66263

Rob

1936, actually. That's an Arthur Rothstein photo, probably taken for the Farm Security Administration.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Thanks, David!

Rob