The increase in automobile ownership after Henry Ford started to sell automobiles that the middle class could afford resulted in an increased demand for filling stations.
The world’s first purpose-built gas station was constructed in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1905 at 420 South Theresa Avenue. The second station was constructed in 1907 by Standard Oil of California (now Chevron) in Seattle, Washington, at what is now Pier 32.
Reighard’s Gas Station in Altoona, Pennsylvania claims that it dates from 1909 and is the oldest existing filling station in the United States. Early on, they were known to motorists as “filling stations”. These filling stations were known to wash your windows for free.
The first “drive-in” filling station, Gulf Refining Company, opened to the motoring public in Pittsburgh on December 1, 1913, at Baum Boulevard and St Clair’s Street. Prior to this, automobile drivers pulled into almost any general or hardware store, or even blacksmith shops in order to fill up their tanks.
These vintage photos were found by Vintage Cars & People that show filling stations from between the 1920s and 1960s.
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| A fashionable lady posing with an open-topped 1928 Auburn 8-115 Phaeton Sedan at a petrol station in summertime. A sign reading “Mobiloel – Deutsche Vacuum Oel Aktiengesellschaft”, somewhere in Germany, circa 1928 |
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| Four men and a girl posing next to a Talbot DS 15/40 in rural Austria. The driver is sitting behind the wheel of this right-hand drive French car. There’s a petrol pump visible behind the car, circa 1920s |
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| A company of three posing with an Essex Super Six at a remote Shell filling station on an Alpine road. The car is registered in the city of Munich, circa 1930s |
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| A fellow wearing a double-breasted pinstripe suit and hat posing with a BMW 320 Limousine 2 Türen next to a ‘Bevaulin’ petrol pump. The car is registered in the German state of Thuringia, circa 1930s |
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| A middle-aged lady in a female suit posing with a DKW Meisterklasse Typ F7–700 at a petrol station in summertime. The car is registered with licence plates of Allied-occupied Berlin, circa 1930s |
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