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Book review: “Pump and Circumstance”

by Jonathan Roth | Aug 1, 2024

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Recently I was organizing my books on a new bookshelf and came across one that I had almost forgotten about. I picked it up after seeing an exhibition called “See the USA: Automobile Travel and the American Landscape” at the Building Museum when I lived in D.C. The book is called “Pump and Circumstance: Glory Days of the Gas Station” by John Margolies. As you can probably guess, it tracks the development of the history, architecture, and more of American gas and service stations from their beginnings in the early 20th century, through their golden age from the 1920s to early 1960s, and up to today’s comparatively bland versions.

Water pumps are often replaced because of a little coolant loss at the weep hole.

The book starts with the developments that led up to the creation of gas and service stations, the development of the automobile and oil exploration, particularly the 1901 Spindletop oil field discovery which led to the Texas oil boom. The book contains many historic photos and images of gas stations past: old gas pumps, road maps and other promotional materials they used to hand out to customers, signs and logos of mostly now-defunct gas companies, and old postcards of gas stations.

1901 Spindletop oil field discovery

The 1901 Spindletop oil field discovery was an enormous development in ushering America into the automobile age. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindletop (an oil field located in Beaumont, Texas) struck oil. An estimated 100,000 barrels of oil per day were released during the nine-day eruption of the Spindletop gusher. Texaco and Gulf Oil were founded to develop Spindletop oil production. The United States entered the oil age with the Spindletop find. Oil was mostly used as a lubricant and for illumination before Spindletop. The amount of oil that was found made it economically possible to burn it as a fuel for mass transportation use. The resulting craze for oil exploration and the state’s subsequent economic growth came to be known as the “Texas oil boom.” The US quickly took the lead as the world’s top producer of oil, a title it would hold for the next 50 years.

Heywood #2 gusher [Spindletop, Beaumont, Port Arthur, and vicinity, Texas – oil industry]. Photo copyrighted by The Bernier Publ. Co., N.Y. Source: Library of Congress.

Pagoda gas station, Harley Sprague, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo by John Margolies. Source: Library of Congress.

One thing that struck me while flipping through the book is how different working in these gas and service stations back in the day was than it is today. The first thing you’ll notice when paging through the book is the extremely unique architecture. The book features examples such as a Philadelphia terracotta station that looks like a Greek temple photographed in 1916, a station that looks like a rustic cabin from Yosemite National Park photographed in 1920, and a lighthouse-shaped Gulf station in Miami Beach, Florida.

Hat n’ Boots gas station, overall view, Route 99, Seattle, Washington. Photo by John Margolies. Source: Library of Congress.

One Sheridan Oil Company postcard included in the book features an image of the station, along with images of the four attendants who staffed the station: Mack, Pep, Polly, and Danie. A postcard that showed how a mechanic looked before a customer even arrived at the station was basically that era’s version of a shop website’s About Us page. Throughout the book are examples of station uniforms, including those worn by Standard, Texaco, Esso, and Flying A attendants. Perhaps it’s just me, but I feel like a mechanic must have had more pride going to work in a fancy uniform at a station with unique architecture.

Creston, IA Sheridan Oil Co. – Postcard.

Another thing that struck me is that most of the historical examples in the book are of combination gas and service stations. While these still exist, they are far less prevalent than they used to be. In the early days of the automobile when there were fewer shops, businesses had to offer both fuel and service, as they were more likely to be the only shop for fifty miles. As the book notes, starting in the 1930s, “tires, batteries, and accessories became an increasingly important part of the gas station business.” In addition, the lack of paved roads in the very early days of the automobile led to flats on a regular basis, which meant service stations were needed in as many places as possible. There are also no examples in the book of the specialty garages that we have today: garages that focus on performance, transmissions, etc. Of course, there was much less need for this back in the day when there were fewer cars on the road.

Harold’s Auto Center, horizontal view, Sinclair gas station, Route 19, Spring Hill, Florida. Photo by John Margolies. Source: Library of Congress.

The promotional materials and campaigns that these companies used to attract customers to their stations are fascinating as well. These days, your shop may provide a calendar or a magnet for customers, but in the book are examples of a Mobil auto bingo travel game giveaway for kids, a “Stop and Go” board game given out by Shell stations, plastic gas pump-shaped salt and pepper shakers from Cities Service, and a Texaco fire chief mask. The oil companies even put together their own orchestras to perform on radio programs, Texaco had their own singing quartet that opened the Texaco Star Theater TV show in the 1940s, and Phillips 66 had a brigade of clowns to preside over the opening of twenty-four gas stations in Tennessee.

Bomber gas station, diagonal view, Route 99 E., Milwaukie, Oregon. Photo by John Margolies. Source: Library of Congress.

Paging through this book, you just can’t help but imagine what it must have been like to travel America’s roads in those days. I can just picture pulling up in my brand new Packard or Studebaker to a gleaming art deco Cities Service station (like the one shown in the book from Arkansas), while an attendant in full uniform (including a crisply-folded paper hat) runs out to fill ‘er up. Next door is an equally gleaming roadside diner, and I decide to stop in there for a bite to eat before heading back out on that open road.

I highly recommend this book for a journey through the history of gas and service stations. Unfortunately, it seems as though the book has been out of print since about 1996, but you still can find it available on most websites that sell used books.

So what do you think? Would you rather work in one of these architecturally beautiful stations of the past? Or are you happy with the life of a tech now?

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