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DougVieyra · 08-04-2014, 02:02 PM

One of the many aspects of the 'Old Car Hobby' is all of the collateral avenues of fascinating 'side roads' of history that accompanied the development of the automobile. And the humble Gas Station is one of them. For the automobile to work in the 'grand scale', there also had to be other 'infrastructures' to make the automobile fully utilized.

Three things come to mind - the most important was roads. Secondly, motivation to 'get out of town'. And thirdly, the gas station, to allow greater travel than just the paved roads of towns.

If one were to have a greater wish to delve deeper into these interesting 'side shows' of the automobile, a good starting point would be getting and reading several books and magazines that deal with not only the early gas stations, but also road development.

A quick look at my automobile book collection turns up the following (with LOTS of vintage photos of 'cars in action') :
CHECK THE OIL (gas station related), by Scott Anderson, 1986
THE FIRST HIGHWAYS of AMERICA, by John Butler 1994
arba PICTORIAL HISTORY OF ROADBUILDING, by Charles Wixom 1975
"The Super Service Station" (1936) Merchandising Magazine for Gas Stations.
"The Highway Magazine" - 1923-1924 - "Published in the Interest of Good Roads".
"Concrete Highway" Magazine - January 1917 - July 1924

A good "Google Search" , I am sure, will produce more 'stuff' than any one can possibly swallow.

- Doug Vieyra, Eureka, Calif 62 degrees at noon

08-04-2014, 02:02 PM	#33
DougVieyra Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Eureka, California Posts: 1,733	Re: Old time gas stations One of the many aspects of the 'Old Car Hobby' is all of the collateral avenues of fascinating 'side roads' of history that accompanied the development of the automobile. And the humble Gas Station is one of them. For the automobile to work in the 'grand scale', there also had to be other 'infrastructures' to make the automobile fully utilized. Three things come to mind - the most important was roads. Secondly, motivation to 'get out of town'. And thirdly, the gas station, to allow greater travel than just the paved roads of towns. If one were to have a greater wish to delve deeper into these interesting 'side shows' of the automobile, a good starting point would be getting and reading several books and magazines that deal with not only the early gas stations, but also road development. A quick look at my automobile book collection turns up the following (with LOTS of vintage photos of 'cars in action') : CHECK THE OIL (gas station related), by Scott Anderson, 1986 THE FIRST HIGHWAYS of AMERICA, by John Butler 1994 arba PICTORIAL HISTORY OF ROADBUILDING, by Charles Wixom 1975 "The Super Service Station" (1936) Merchandising Magazine for Gas Stations. "The Highway Magazine" - 1923-1924 - "Published in the Interest of Good Roads". "Concrete Highway" Magazine - January 1917 - July 1924 A good "Google Search" , I am sure, will produce more 'stuff' than any one can possibly swallow. - Doug Vieyra, Eureka, Calif 62 degrees at noon Last edited by DougVieyra; 08-04-2014 at 02:50 PM.