Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion gas pump/gas station ID needed

My niece found this old black and white photo of a gas station with her husbands family name and has asked me to paint it (in color) as a Christmas Gift. The owner, standing in front with the white beard, was born in 1872.

I have a bunch of questions whose answers would help me with the painting, plus this photo has made me just curious about how folks lived back then.

If I can get an ID on the gas pumps and gas globes, I can look them up to get their color, their shape which is hard to determine for the pumps, and date the photo. Any ideas?

It looks like the globes on the two right are texaco (partially covered in snow...I will paint the station in summer) which was surprising as it is an Amoco station. What explains that? The pumps under those two globes are different. What about the other two. Were they all gas?

I don't see a power line going to the building. Were they hand pumped?

Any ideas on the signs on the building? There is an ice cream sign behind the pumps. There is a soda bottle on the side of the building. There is a shiny diamond shaped sign on the porch by the side wall (with the porch post reflected in it) and on the gable sign above the owners name, there is the name Peters to the left (as we are looking at it) of the white diamond but I can't make out the wording on the right.

What might have been on the porch of this building? Although St. Mary's County Maryland is a rural county, this store seems to have a lot of gas pumps and must be on a main artery or cross road. I contacted the author, and the location is incorrect in her book, so I don't know where in the county it would have been.

The author gave me permission to share the photo for the purposes of getting this information, but as the photo is part of this copyrighten book, please do not reproduce this without permission from the author.

Images of America, St. Mary's County
Copyright 2004, Linda Davis Reno

To see the image, please google J. Ralay Wathen and click on the link that says: St. Mary's County google books result.

I tried to copy the link to this page, but it didn't work when I tested it...

Any id's or suggestions for this painting would be appreciated!

Nicole

Please Highlight & copy the http: address @ top of your Browser, then Paste into your posting.
I tried several ways & come up w/ Zero.

In full page, there is an icon for LINKS to make them clickable.

Welcome to oldgas.

Here is the picture. Click on the thumbnail to get a larger version cropped to show the pumps and sign. Click Here to see a full size version directly.

To answer a couple of your questions; yes, the two globes on the right do appear to be Texaco globes. The different colors of the pumps may indicate gasoline grade. Likely three of the pumps are red, and one is white or silver. The left globe may be "AMOCO GAS" and the second from the left may be a red-dot "American Gas" globe, although the body on that type of globe is typically yellow. Odd that it appears so dark.

Pumps of this type are typically hand operated.

Is there any chance of getting a better, bigger, or clearer scan of this picture? The one that I'm seeing on ImageShack is fairly small and blurry.

Wes

By the way, here's a guess as to what the leftmost globe may be:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/9376?size=_original

The two pumps on the right are of the type picture here, too.

AMOCO globes
http://www.gaspumps.info/gallery/v/globes/AmericanOilCompany/

Texaco Globes
http://www.gaspumps.info/gallery/v/globes/Texaco/

Looks like they sold both brands. Not that unusual in the early days.

that picture has to be teen's or early 20's..cool picture
these early stations with all the pumps lined up, do you think they had that many tanks in the ground?

Pumps left to right;
Gilbert & Barker T-176
Gilbert & Barker T-176
Guarantee Liquid Meas. Co. 117 [10gal]
Guarantee Liquid Meas. Co. 17 [5gal]

[Guarantee also referred to as FRY or Mae West body style]
Not that unusual for a Mom & Pop station to have 2-5 or more Brands of gasoline. Have seen pictures of 8-10 Brands.

Randy, back then not all tanks had to be underground, in the country most were above ground.

You think they had four different brands, coming out of the same tank?
OK, That's it! I'm starting on a time machine, so i can drive around and check out all the cool old country stores of the 20's... I may need some of your extra pumps, for parts. LOL Cool photo, wish it was a little more clear.

I purchased these photos a while ago. I thought they fit the description of the small station as db stated, with the different brands almost spot on. Thought I would post them again.





Nicole's photo is of an earlier era.

In Bob's last picture against wall of station/building, each Vent pipe is for a single tank. I count 7 & maybe 9 [not sure on 1st & 4th pipes from right side] & possibly another behind center pump [10 total].

Nicole's picture will date 1925 or Later.

I agree with DBs date of 1925 or later on Nicole's picture.

Did you guys see the air meters in the background of shorpy's picture? How many of you can name the brand of the meters.

Also, it is no wonder that so many Guarantee Liquid Measure (Fry) pumps show up at every gas show. I still believe they sold more of them than any other visible made.

Jack Sim

Nicole, Welcome. I have seen a bunch of old Maryland gas station/country store pictures. I was always surprised to see several different gasoline brands sold at these places? It seems to have been a common practice at the time? As for the soda sign.......it looks like Coca Cola.....notice the bottle design? Good Luck, Paul www.severngaspumps.com

Nicole, great picture. I don't want to get to far off subject but did you see the pricers on top of the globe in shorty's picture? Never saw those before. John

Hi Nicole,

Welcome to Oldgas.Interesting picture informed questions.The other guys have handled many things better than I could,so I'll give you some thoughts as to "how folks lived back then".

I suggest the building served as a home for the operator as well as possibly the local general store.Two story building?Living quarters on second floor?Further it's possible the general stoor pre dates the pumps.It looks to me like the pumps,all located off to the side like that,may have been added later to expand the product line.Maybe they started with one brand and then added the other.Just something to think about.

As to what would have been on the porch,I will suggest bulk dispensers for oil and/or kerosene,a water barrel for overheated cars and possibly a drinking water cask on a raised stand.

I'm basing my comments on pictures I have of a gas station/general store that my relatives ran in the late 30's.Again Nicole,welcome an an interesting discussion.

Very few Mom & Pop's/ farmers bought NEW pumps, earliest pump mfg. in picture is 1925. So, if it was bought used puts the date of picture closer to 1930-35. Cost of a new pump was approx. $125-50, takes a lot of gas selling @ 12-18c per gal to pay for a pump.
In most cases a distributor says, I'll furnish a pump IF you'll buy my gas to sell. Distributors always had used pumps from swapping out after installing new pumps to larger clients that bought new updated equipment.

I agree that the pic is probably early 30's.I was refering to the building possibly being in operation as a general store prior to the installation of the pumps.I have a pic 0f a late 1800's building that operated as a general store into the 30's.Again,this one was family,but I don't remember any pumps in the pic.

Thank you everyone! Wow...

What a great start for me. Thanks to you all, now I know shape and color plus ideas for the porch. I will e-mail the finished work for you. It's to be a Christmas gift so hopefully the painting will be finished by the end of the year.

What a cool place this forum is. Thanks for the help and your wonderful welcome to this newbie.

Nicole

Here are a couple of pictures of the gas pumps in your old photo so you have a little more detail for your picture

http://www.gaspumps.info/gallery/v/pumps/Visibles/Finished_G_B176.jpg.html

http://www.gaspumps.info/gallery/v/pumps/Clockfaces/LWF0051.jpg.html

There were probably several of these lubester bulk oil dispensers on the front porch side-by-side.

http://www.gaspumps.info/gallery/v/pumps/other/lubesters/lubesterharbor.jpg.html

Hi Nicole,

Me again.I'm glad we were able to help.When a "newbie LOL'asks a well thought out question someone around here usually can and will post thoughts based on long experience in a great hobby.

If you can protect yourself in some manner,copywright of some sort,I for one would love to see a pic of your finished work.I say that because I have had artists come to my place and take pics to do exactly what you are doing;create real art from a pic.If you can't do it I'll understand.Oh,if you decide to use the water barrel for overheated cars,don't forget to include a water bucket.LOL.They had one.Good luck!!

There is this Amoco-Gas globe on Scott Benjamins site now.

The left globe does appear to be an Amoco-Gas globe. They were used until 1932. The 2nd globe from the left appears to be an American Gas "red dot" globe. They started using that globe in 1926. That would likely date the photo between '26 and '32, although the Amoco-Gas globe might not have been switched to the newer Amoco globe until later in rural locations.

PCM's Guide to Gas Pump Restoration shows the correct color scheme for many companies.
Sim's An Illustrated Guide to Gas Pumps will likely have pictures of the pumps.

Hi Nicole,
I know we would all love to see your painting when finished.
Sounds like a very thoughtful gift. Best of luck,
John

you can sell two different brands out of the same single product dual pump,or at least at one time you could.
If you are pumping premium out of a single product dual, you can brand the other side regular even though it is premium.....
I have seen dual pumps pulling from one pipe branded premium on one side and regular on the other. it don't work in reverse though....you can't sell regular as premium.

I remodeled a kitchen for a guy that used to run a Phillips 66 station. He said the tank truck driver put regular grade gasoline in the Flite-Fuel tank. By the time the owner found out it was too late. He was worried but didn't receive a single complaint from his customers.

THE PAINTING IS FINISHED!

The painting is finished and posted under Showcase and Stories. It’s been finished for a while but I wanted to get permission to post the entire original photo with the painting. I want to thank everyone that helped set me straight with a special shout-out to Jim Potts, Old Iron, Ed Shaver and Bob Richards.