Sparky's Standard Service
My great grandpa had a gas station in Harlan, Iowa which is now the Nelson Farm Supply on Chatburn Avenue. The gas station started in 1934 till 1975. The gas was supplied by railroad tank cars. They were parked on the side track on the south side of Chatburn Avenue. All of the gas was pumped underneath the highway to storage tanks in the back of the station. You would pump gas by hand with a hand lever until you had the desired gallons in the globe on top of the stand. Then you would let how many gallons you got and let it fall by gravity into the car tank. My grandpa remembered that the gas was 17 cents back then, and oil was 25 cents a quart.
The roads in the 30s were all dirt. When the rain would come in on a Saturday night they would be lined up to get car chains on their cars so that they could get home. The charge for that was 25 cents at my great grandpa’s station. That was some good extra money on a Saturday night. Another good source of income was when the canning factory across the street would go on their lunch breaks and the workers would come over and buy snacks for themselves. My great grandpa’s store burned in about 1973. The cause of this fire was a protein heater in the women’s restroom. A man unloading his gas truck over ran the gas and the gas ran under into the women’s restroom door. There was an explosion and the historic station burned.
Comments
Good summary!