gas station – Preservation in Pink

Gas station on Western Ave (Route 9) in Brattleboro, VT.

Not as mysterious as other abandoned places, but small gas stations from the 1930s (or 20s-50s really) are buildings that I find fascinating – like those on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut or the one remaining gas station in the center of the Belt Parkway on southern Long Island, NY. Though not exactly abandoned, it is currently vacant, which makes me worry about its fate. This one was most recently a Sunoco station and appears to have only one garage bay, a small front office, and a rear room.

Western Ave, Brattleboro, VT gas station.

Actually, this building is for sale. Look up listings for 205 Western Ave, Brattleboro, VT. A Trulia listing revealed some historic images. Unfortunately, the listing does not cite the source of the photos. It says that for the past 60 years, the station has been servicing the area. However, I always take realtor listings with a grain of salt.

205 Western Ave, Brattleoboro, VT. Image via Trulia.

205 Western Ave. Image via Trulia.

Read the seller’s notes – sounds like a great investment project! A former service station on Shelburne Road in Burlington, VT has been converted into a restaurant – The Spot. These are great buildings!

Meet my car: Derby. Derby and I have been on many road trips together, often fulfilling my love of roadside architecture and roadside America. All along, we have been travelling with the infamous bumper sticker. That’s right, as soon as I graduated college and bought my first car, the slogan, “Historic Preservationists Make It Last Longer,” has adorned the bumper of my car. That is how much I love historic preservation – I’m willing to have strangers (and people I know) give me odd looks when they see Derby’s bumper. It’s always a conversation starter.

Meet Derby, in preservation roadside glory.

I love my car more than I should love an inanimate object, but then again, most of us love buildings as people. Fair is fair. With that said, you can imagine my delight when my mother, my sister, and I stumbled on a gas station in St. James, MO (on Route 66, I should add) that was named DERBY. Cue “stop and take a picture!” Unfortunately it was past dusk and the pictures did not come out very clearly. But, you get the idea. It was obvious that this station had been closed for quite some time, but had found alternative uses.

Derby gas station in St. James, MO.

Derby gas station sign in St. James, MO.

Since then, I have been on the hunt for a replica Derby sign. Sadly, Derby gasoline was not as popular as Mobil, Sinclair, Texaco, Phillips66…or pretty much any other brand. See here for many, except Derby. A great resource for a collection of gasoline signs and photographs is GasSigns.org. There is even a page dedicated to Derb y stations and includes photographs of the St. James, MO station in daylight.

Despite the lack of reproduction Derby signs, I am now the proud owner of a reproduction sign (an early Christmas present). I love it! Here it is, in all of its Derby glory. Now…to take a picture with the car Derby and the Derby sign… in the town of Derby, North Carolina. (It actually exists, but it’s nothing more than a highway sign, a farm stand, and a few buildings, including one that looks like an igloo).