Early 30s gas station

[mrtexas]

Early 30s gas station owned by my Grandfather in Gold Creek, MT, western Montana

[tomcarman]

Fascinating. I wonder if that was a field trip for the local school with all those children. I wonder what their stories were as they went through life, WWII, post war society and such. I love these kind of glimpses into past generations. Thanks for posting this. I hope one of our fine members enlarges this.
Tom

[Lanny]

That's a cool old picture.

The front row of kids, don't look old enough to be in school.
I also wonder what all the kids are there for? What do they represent ?




.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by mrtexas

Early 30s gas station owned by my Grandfather in Gold Creek, MT, western Montana

[tomcarman]

I can see that they all have some sort of helmet/hat on. Mr. Texas, is the original picture blurry or if you're like me trying to snap a photo with my cell phone getting shaky at the trigger? Of note the boys are wearing bib overalls and the girls are wearing white dresses. There appears to be 2 adults in the back row.

[Lanny]

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I dug up an old picture of a Vintage Texaco Hat/Helmet.
I wonder if that is what they are all wearing ?

[tomcarman]

Originally Posted by Lanny

I dug up an old picture of a Vintage Texaco Hat/Helmet.
I wonder if that is what they are all wearing ?

I wondered that myself but I don't see a Texaco logo on the gas station. I vaguely recall those helmets when I was a kid in the early '60's. One would assume that if was a bit of a promo in those days Texaco would be featured. Very interesting bit of history. Forgot to mention a thanks to Petehoovie for the enlargement.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by tomcarman

I wondered that myself but I don't see a Texaco logo on the gas station. I vaguely recall those helmets when I was a kid in the early '60's. One would assume that if was a bit of a promo in those days Texaco would be featured.

Look at the sign up high on the building, level with the top of pump on left. If you read carefully in between the banners hanging down, you can make-out "RED & WHITE Stores", like in the color picture below.


From Google:

"Red & White Corporation is a chain of independently owned and operated food stores operating in the United States and Canada. While it has been supplanted by supermarket chains in many of its locations, its signature red dot logo with the words Red & White can still be found on small independent grocers in many states & provinces."

[mercman from oz]

1932 Ford Five Window Coupe filling up at West-Way Super Service.

[sugarmaker]

That is a cool picture! Good work figuring out the hats! Yes I remember the Red & White stores as a kid. I can still remember the smell of the fresh ground coffee!

We had a small neighborhood store like the Red and White store too. Grange was in the upstairs. Had gas pumps too. I remember stopping there with a CASE VAI tractor that had no brakes, two loads of hay hooked to it. Hotter than Blue Blazes! Going in and getting a cold orange pop from the water cooler where you had to take the neck of the bottle through this maze to remove it. They may have been a nickle or a dime??

The 32 is getting the radiator topped off, and fuel too. Interesting station. Two bays for fuel. Tires for sale but no bay to do work.
Good pictures!

Regards,
Chris

[woodiewagon46]

My wife's mother was a school teacher in rural Texas in the '20s. It was common to have younger children in the same class as older kids. We have several class pictures from the time and most of the boy's did have "bib overalls" on. In a couple of pictures a few of the kid's had bare feet! It was a different era!

[51504bat]

Originally Posted by sugarmaker

That is a cool picture! Good work figuring out the hats! Yes I remember the Red & White stores as a kid. I can still remember the smell of the fresh ground coffee!

We had a small neighborhood store like the Red and White store too. Grange was in the upstairs. Had gas pumps too. I remember stopping there with a CASE VAI tractor that had no brakes, two loads of hay hooked to it. Hotter than Blue Blazes! Going in and getting a cold orange pop from the water cooler where you had to take the neck of the bottle through this maze to remove it. They may have been a nickle or a dime??

The 32 is getting the radiator topped off, and fuel too. Interesting station. Two bays for fuel. Tires for sale but no bay to do work.
Good pictures!





Regards,
Chris

My guess is that the service area was in the building in the far rear of the photo.

[Terry,OH]

mrtexas: The station must have been very popular since they had so many attendants.

[TJ]

Originally Posted by Terry,OH

mrtexas: The station must have been very popular since they had so many attendants.

Those were the days when you actually got service. They checked the oil, radiator, tire pressure and washed the windshield. Now and then you were asked to check the master cylinder which was a real pain if it was under the floor.

[mike in tucson]

In the Montana picture, there is an overstuffed chair next to the pumps. Prop sits and waits between customers?

[outsider347]

.....from the inter web

The brand was first launched on cans of coffee in 1908 by Smith Michael (S.M.) Flickinger in Buffalo, New York to compete with A&P and its popular private brand coffee and was named after the color on the store shelves.

[50fordcoupeman]

Originally Posted by tomcarman

Fascinating. I wonder if that was a field trip for the local school with all those children. I wonder what their stories were as they went through life, WWII, post war society and such. I love these kind of glimpses into past generations. Thanks for posting this. I hope one of our fine members enlarges this.
Tom

Click on the picture and when it comes up, click on it again and whamo, it is enlarged for you.

[Randy in ca]

For many years it was very common for a small town Grocery or General Store to also double as a Gas Station, which appears to be the situation in the original picture posted by Mr. Texas, with the Red & White store also selling Texaco gas. The poster on the left was sold several years ago at a Barrett-Jackson auction. The original picture is pretty blurry, but if you look really close there also appears to be the remains of 2 other similar Texaco banners besides the one highlighted.

-

[frnkeore]

My folks bought a store and gas station, in 1952. I was just a "Country" type store, with two gas pumps and had the family name on it, "Elliott's Store and Station". I think they sold Mobil (not sure, I was only 7). There was a Coke machine, like Chris mentions (I like Grapette) and a big pickle jar, near the cash register. We had a separate shed, where they stored oil and had tire fixture (not a machine) where tires were changed with tire irons and a hot patch fixture, to patch tubes.

We lived in a attached house at the rear of it.

Great memory's, I chewed Double Bubble, until my jaws hurt

Also, in the 5 window coupe picture. The gas company, is Signal. I remember them, so, I looked it up:
http://www.mediaheritage.com/signal-oil-history/

[Dick]

mrtexas, Great Picture!
Do you know if it had a lift on the right side of the building as shown?
There is a chance this building is the current post office.
It's very close to the rail crossing that was shown in the picture you posted of the wrecked pickup quite a while back. The driveway is shaped like you would drive around either side of the pumps in the picture. I could be mistaken, but I will take a picture of the PO when the weather clears a bit. I will ask the postmaster if she knows any info about the building.