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Magnolia Service Station

Route 66 at Grand Ave.
Phone:

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Built about 1930 this little Magnolia Service station was probably the first place to buy gas when motorists entered Oklahoma from Texas. The gas was dispensed by "visible" gravity fed pumps. You cranked a pump to fill a clear glass cylinder on top of the pump with as many gallons of gas as you wanted to buy, then opened the valve and let the gas flow by gravity into the gas tank in your car. The cylinder had markings for each gallon of gas so you knew how much had been pumped in.

This station was originally owned by Albert Hutto who later sold it to Frank Skinner, both sold Magnolia products. In 1955 it was sold again and became a Phillips 66 station and operated until the 1960s. The canopy was collapsing when this photo was snapped in 2015.

An antique tractor waits in the garage. The station was built in pieces. The main concrete block building under the canopy was built first and the canopy and service bay on the side were built later. Before the road was paved the station sold tire chains to motorists who needed the extra traction on roads that sometimes turned to mostly mud in the rain. The stations tow truck came in handy for towing cars that got stuck in the mud.

The remnants of a garage bay shown in the 2015 photo at the top of this page has gone missing in this 2019 photo. The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995, but that hasn't stopped it from deteriorating.

Photo(s): 2015