Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana My new sign with a (His) story.......

Hello All,
This story is kind of long, but it's not often most of us have so much history on something we now own. I met Paul, the (former!) owner of my new sign several years ago. He happened to mention to me one day that his "Uncle Charlie" was Charles Bentz, who owned the first garage and gas station in the City of Hillsdale, Michigan. It was opened on March 12, 1907, and operated from then until January 1947. The home Paul lives in was his Uncle's home and he was lucky enough to purchase it years after his Uncle had died and the home became an multi-unit apartment for many years. He told me out in the garage was a sign that had hung outside the Bentz Brothers Garage. When he showed it to me, he said it wasn't for sale but miraculously he found it still in the little shed on the property after countless tennants and owners over the past 40 years. Evidently no one ever found it or cared about it and left it untouched.
Being a member of the Hillsdale Co. Historical Society I knew we had photos of the Bentz Bros. shop. Also in the local history "bible", the "Hills and Dales" which was published in 1976 was the history of Mr. Bentz and his shop. Low and behold when I found our photos, there at the ground level was the "Greasing" sign Paul had. The photo was probably taken in the late 20's or early 30's when they sold Red Crown gasoline. Here is a photo of the building then and now. Notice the GREASING sign on the lower left corner of the building....



And this morning....!!



The neat thing is that living downtown I see this building out my front windows! I think that brings the history so much closer to me.



Fast forward to two weeks ago, when I stopped into the antique shop housed in my block and there in the back room was Paul's Greasing sign! I couldn't believe he had sold it. The owner said it wasn't for sale yet, and that it came from "SOME garage here in Hillsdale." I told the shop owner I wanted the sign and I wanted it to stay here instead of them listing it on Ebay as they were planning to do. I checked in with them this morning and she said "My husband says you can have the sign for $100." I wrote the check and now here in Hillsdale it will stay. On the back of the sign it has that it is "Property of Goodyear", and also has the date of 9/19 carved in the enamel. It looks like that was done while it was still hot and the enamel hadn't hardened yet. I don't even know if this sign is worth a $100, but to me it is worth way more than that. Since it will probably be the only real local gas station item I'll ever own, it will be a pretty special piece, and one I plan on leaving to the Society when I'm gone. Being 33 that will hopefully be a few years, but I plan on it staying here for life. I do know who owns the porcelain Pegasus that hung on Hillsdale's Mobil station, but it is a family member who owns it and I honestly doubt it will ever be for sale. Here is the sign in my apartment now......



Hope I didn't bore anyone to death, I just wanted to share the history of this sign with everyone. Thanks for reading the story, and have a good one,
Darin

awsome story darin. and also great history..sign looks like it cleaned up very nicely too!!

WOOO-HOOO...LOVIN' THAT HISTORY, DARIN! TOO COOL! DEF WORTH $100!

BTW ARE THERE STILL "RIVETS" IN THE SIGN HOLES? LOL...JUST MESSIN' WITH YA!

Darin, great bit of history there, both the sign and the "story" behind it. IMO, the sign is worth the price, without the story. With its history the sign is priceless. Thanks for saving an important piece of your communities history.

Darin great story. Glad you got to keep a piece of your local history local. Also for $100 I would say you did well

Ignore the money Darin.IMHO money can buy things,but it cannot buy a true appreciation of history;that trait is an invalueable asset in the preservation of both history and our hobby.I salute you sir,and please keep it up!!

Darin...

Nice sign. I'm glad you got it. I have been in that antique store before and have found nothing. Always stop in you never know. Did you never get any information on Cliffs Hy-Flash station?

Randy

Thanks for the comments guys. Yes Doc, it still has a couple of those RIVETS left!
By the way, the right storefront side of the building burned probably 15 years ago, and has been vacant since. Even though it is essentially gutted now, the owner does keep up the exterior of the building and didn't tear it down.
The best part of the sad story is that luckily the owner of the building had removed the large stained glass window that says BENTZ BROS a few years before the fire and thus it still exists. Obviously in a fire that window would literally have melted apart when the solder got hot.

Darin, you hit the lottery! That's an awesome story and a nice piece of history you just saved and acquired. Signs like that don't have a price, it and your story are PRICELESS. Funny how things happen and you were in the right place at the right time to acquire it. Is that a lit Bow-Tie sign above your sign in the photo? Looks like it says service. Any chance on finding more original photo's of the station in it's "heyday"?

Thanks for the great story!Great sign and congrats on the buy!

Great story!! Killer sign!!
Thank's for sharing.

Good story. Great end result.

Now that's a story, and history to prove where the sign came from. It does not get any better that. That sign would be priceless to me.

The planets aligned...great sign w/history.

Here are the only other photos I have of the business. These are earlier than the one I originally posted, definately from the teens. In the history story in the "Hills and Dales" book, Mrs. Bentz wrote that they originally installed a "120 gallon BROWSER (!) self-measuring gasoline pump." I'm not really a pump guy, so I don't know what model it is, but you will see one of those early self contained cabinet pumps in the photos. Is this the Bowser pump she is describing? The 2nd photo is pretty neat, with lots of items to spy. Although light, the canopy says "Standard Service Station". There is a Mobiloils flange sign above the door, as well as one of those large Texaco cone top cans in the store window. You can see it above the car's steering wheel through the window. Obviously as well they are receiving a shipment of Red Crown Gasoline. I think old Charlie is showing off some of the shop's tire selections as well! Unfortunately I do not have any photos past the ca. 1930 photo I first posted. And yes that is a Chevrolet bowtie neon with SERVICE in the center. Mr. Bentz leased part of the shop to Gray and White Chevrolet at that time.
Enjoy,
Darin