Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Frontier (and Husky) gas stations

I own a former Frontier gas station and have recently taken it from an office building back to its glory days as a shop. Now that i have discovered and resurrected the old hidden windows and other effects, i am keen to gather some items from its former life - namely Frontier (and later Husky) petroliana. The station is 1964 -early 1970s vintage, so any pictures or curiosities from that era Frontier/Husky stations would be of interest. I am particularly keen on Frontier signs from the mid 1960s (or earlier). I would also appreciate any pics of shop and service station store interiors from the mid 1960s.

Watch wild hogs there is a frontier station there.

Where is your station at? I would love to see it some day.

I probably have ads for the type of building, so if you supply a picture I will see what I have.

Jack Sim

FG.... I have quite a few snapshots of Husky Stations taken in I think the early 1970's. Let me know the location of yours as some of the ones I have are from Colorado.
I'm going to warn you though it might be awhile till I find them.

another coloradian!!!!hopefully we can help you with your needs..txs alan

I'm a thirty year employee of Frontier and Husky (ret). To be a Frontier station it had to be built before 1967 as that is when Husky bought them out. The reason I brought that up is that I and Rarin-to-go who is a member on this site collect Rarin-To-Go magazines which was the company news magazine. They would feature different stations ocasionally with pictures and owners. Most that I have are from the mid fifties and older. We would still have to know the location and when it was built. Who knows we might get lucky. Mitch

Thanks - will check it out as it is one of my favorite movies.

Guys, I appreciate the prompt and thorough responses. My station was built in 1964 and opened as Tom's Frontier Service (later Lowry Frontier Service). The station's address was 1101 Syracuse Street and it is located on the northwest corner of Syracuse Street and 11th Avenue, immediately adjacent the old Lowry Air Force base (now a 15 year old subdivision) in eastern Denver. As someone indicated, it transitioned to Lowry Husky Service in the late 1960s and appears to have disappeared as a service station in the early 1970s. In 1985, someone finished the inside to make it a print shop and later an office. I have now taken the inside back to period finishings, but the outside is a drab color to blend in with the surroundings, and someone had previously removed the old, large awning that would have covered the pumps. Will catch anything I missed in later posts.

Looks like Tom's opened a little prior to 1964. I have a story in a Rarin-to-Go Magazine dated April 1963 that features a story about Tom's Frontier raising money on March 16, 1963 to help fund the Easter Seal Crippled Children Fund. From the pictures it looks like Toms had one of the rare plastic lighted signs out front with a GS1000 sign below it. It had the plastic letters spelling Frontier on the building

The pumps appear to be Tokheim 300-P's with globes on top manufactured from 1955-1960 according to Jack Sim's books.

It's a small world. Amazing what information one can unearth by simply asking!

I'm a little confused. You say your station was built in 1964. I did some checking on these twins in this story and found subject index cards from the Denver Public Library Digital Collection. These cards reference stories in the Denver Post Empire section and in the Rocky Mountain News about these twins being selected poster kids in 1964. Not 1963. The Rarin To Go magazine is dated April, 1963 and the story inside says it was in 1963. I doubt they were poster children two years in a row. I wonder if someone at Frontier was still stuck in 1963 when they should have been in 1964. The year 1963 only appears in two places in the mag. On the cover and in this story.

I knew it wouldn't be long before you weighed in Rarin, as I have seen your great posts regarding Frontier and it's petroliana. I can't thank you enough for the pics and wide range of info in the article about my station, as well as your additional comments. And now the task do securing some of these items... I will separately contact you about getting together. All the best.

Dave's Garage - talking small world, I grew up less than an hour west of you in south Surrey...

Rarin - I say 1964 because that is the "Year Built" that Denver county records quotes.

I have it listed in 1962 on the list of all Frontier stations in CO. It is just listed as a Denver Service station on 1101 Syracuse. Not sure about the exact date as I'm missing the cover, but it does talk about promotions to J. Olvey on March 15, 1962. This is a quote from the January 1963 Magazine. During Frontier's last fiscal year, starting June 1, 1961 and endingMay 31, 1962, the company built twelve new stations and completely rebuilt two existing stations. Fourteen existing stations were leasted and eight existing stations were purchased, making a total acquisition during the fiscal year of thirty-six properties. Beginning June 1,1962 and to date, Frontier has built -- After that my magazine is missing the rest. Maybe Rarin-to-go can help from there. Mitch

Watched Wild Hogs again to see the Frontier station in reference. Expected it to be the one that burned down, but it was at the end in Madrid, New Mexico. As I have been to Madrid since the movie was filmed, it is clearly a movie set creation that didn't exist before the movie and is no longer there. Nice to see all the same. Thanks.

Hi Frontier,

You are correct in saying that the Frontier in Madrid,NM was a movie set creation.They copied the real keyhole sign that Johnnie has put up at his place in Embudo,NM and made a painted replica for the movie.

Guys, my old Frontier station is nearing completion as a garage again, but I had a curiosity question for you. Was it common for guys to put coins around the rubber piston lift seal to perhaps commemorate its year of retirement and concreting over? I found the old seal with a number of bent coins embedded in it during the reno.

I think the earliest Frontier porcelain signs were the Golden Cowboy signs but they are extremely rare. I only know of 7 of them, but sure there are a few more out there. We have one at the Lakeside Museum, Jeff Wandler has 2 at his Museum in Gillette WY, Bobby Knudsen has the nicest one I know of in ID.
I just bought a GS1000 porcelain sign in.NE to go with our Frontier stuff. I just became aware that GS1000 was associated with Frontier. I don’t have any info on the sign. I I’d send a pix but have no idea how to use the unfriendly format as I’m old and not tech savvy.