Standard Filling Station No. 1
On our way to the Corvette Museum, near Bowling Green Kentucky, we spotted this charming View From the Road, and pulled over to take a closer look. As I approached the “landmark” I wondered why Standard Oil, which was started in Ohio by J.D. Rockefeller, Henry Flagler, Henry Rogers, William Rockefeller, Samuel Andrews, Oliver Burr Jennings and Stephen V. Harkness in 1870, would have placed its first filling station in Kentucky?
When I started to read the informational placard, which states that on July 18, 1921, Standard Oil of Kentucky purchased this lot to build its first filling station, I thought: alright, I have been taken, let me enjoy the ride. Standard Filling Station No.1, is not Standard Oil’s first filling station, but rather the first gasoline station in the area.
As I continued reading, I also learned that while Station No.1 did occupy this space in 1921, since then, the space has had many other uses. The station I share with you has been rebuilt, to appear as it did in 1921.
I am hesitant about sharing what I think of as “historical reenactments”; especially if they have an attraction attachment – capitalism at work. This lot however, has simply been restored, to as close to its original condition, as possible, and provides the visitor with a look back at how the early filling stations, which put an end to how “early entrepreneurs sold gasoline and kerosene curbside, often from the front of their home or stores” first appeared.
