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Spent many of my formative years in this place from diapers through my teens. I got my love of cars here. The Apartment building on top (destroyed by fire in the 70's) was a house of ill repute when my grandparents first bought it. The gas station is now repurposed and leased as a laundry mat, but the property is still in the family.
Nice Eric brings to thinking of my upbringing in one of the hottest old car states-Wisconsin...-Milwaukee....Southside you can see Mitchell Field in the back ground. In 1 picture that was my 70 Grand Prix J model. House is still there new owner totally went through it in the late 70's and is still there....
Thanks for sharing Eric...You just have to love the Old Nostalgic Features of old photos and the memories that are associated with them... I often think of the city block I grew up on and the differences of how it looks then and now...
Thank you for sharing the old pictures. I wish I had some to go with the stories my Dad told me. My Dad sold cars back in the 1950's and one of my Uncles had a gas station/repair shop during the same period. I had no interest in cars until high school, when I needed a car to get a job and a job to get a car! I bought a $100 clunker that needed wrenching on at least once a month just to keep it on the road! But the bug bit me then and I've been playing with cars ever since.
My aunt and uncle has this station that they bought in the late 1950's. The building (which is now a house) goes back to the 1870's. My aunt was the postmaster there. Everyone's P.O. box was behind the wood and glass counter. The P.O. boxes were made from wood as well. It was a Shell station, general store, post office, and their home, all in one. When we were kids, and visited, we were allowed one item from the candy case. I always got a box of Mr. Salty pretzels for a whopping 10¢. My aunt retired as postmaster in 1971, and they finally closed it in the late 70's
My grandpa owned/operated a 4 bay garage/gas station in Girard, PA for 50 yrs. I looked forward to Summer with my dad because that meant I got to go to the garage everyday. I learned a lot from that old man, when my dad passed away a couple years ago I received a box of stuff and in it was my first pair of coveralls from when I was 3 yrs old..... good memories.
When I was growing up in Maynard, this was owned by the France family at the corner of 62 and 117. We knew it as "Last Chance France's" because he would always grubstake us for a dollar's worth of gas on a Saturday night.
Circa 1978-80 I worked at a service station in Charlotte during high school that was almost as old as the one pictured above. Learned at an early age to perform oil changes, brake jobs, tune ups, mount/balance tires, etc. All of that while running a full service gas pump island. Pretty cool times were had. Several of my friends that owned 442's would swing by/hang out on Fri-Sat nights until we closed at 9 pm. We would then head out afterwards and eventually observe or participate in a late night race against the chevys around town before turning it in for the night.
