I don’t have a big story for you about this place. It is an abandoned and destroyed gas station on Route 66, Conway, Texas. That’s all I got.
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What is: The American flag on the house and truck panels.
What was: Sitting at the side of the road on route 66, todays SUV’s heritage can be traced back to the panel truck, like this one.
In 1917, nine years after the first Model T, Ford introduced their first truck based on the Model T. By 1942, Ford had made a departure from sharing passenger car styling with the truck line and gave its delivery truck line a new style. However, shortly after the new models were introduced, the US entered WWII. The production of civilian vehicles was halted. Ford retooled to concentrate on building a variety of military vehicles, as well as aircraft engines and bombers.
In 1947, under the guidance of Henry Ford’s grandson, Henry Ford II, a new direction for Ford trucks would take place, beginning in 1948 with the introduction of the standard setting F-Series. The F-1 series were panel trucks and featured a wider, longer, and taller cabs. Heater only, No Defroster. Running boards curved over the frame and under the cab. Many of the trucks Ford built between 1945 and 1947 were shipped with a tireless rim in the spare tire holder because of a lingering post war rubber shortage.
The Ford F-series truck has been built continuously since 1948, and has since sold more than 40 million models. — making it the fifth most popular vehicle ever produced.
I have no big story…an abandoned gas station and sign near Conway, Texas along Route 66.
What is: Often abandoned, standing taller than the local courthouse, grain elevators in small town across Texas and the United States.
What was: Whether they hold corn, milo, soybeans, or sunflower seeds, all grain elevators are basically big storage tanks. The number of operating grain elevators peaked around 1984 at around 1500 members in the Texas association. Today there are fewer than than 500 in Texas.
The small-town, family-owned elevators are going the way of the independent grocers. Kids aren’t interested in continuing the business, so they’re either selling out or shutting the doors. Many of the concrete cathedrals of the plains were built after World War II to store government-owned grain. Like the cotton gins of Mississippi, delivering product to the elevators was a social time, as all the local farmers got together to compare notes and share stories.
What is: Robinson Grain Co., Conway TX. The Handbook of Texas reports Conway had a population of 175 in 1969 but only 50 people in 1970. In 2016 the population was recorded as three
What was: Grain elevators were invented by Joseph Dart and Robert Dunbar in 1842 in Buffalo, New York. They created the grain elevators to help with the problem of unloading and storing grain that was being transported through the Erie Canal. Grain Elevators in Conway TX date back to about 1914 and these ones are beside the abandoned railway roadbed of the Chicago, RockIsland and Gulf Railway.
A grain elevator is a facility for agriculture designed to stockpile or store grain. Bucket elevators are used to lift grain to a and then it can fall through spouts and/or conveyors into one or more bins, silos, or tanks in a facility. It can then be emptied from bins, tanks, and silos, and conveyed, blended, and weighted into trucks, railroad cars, or barges for shipment. Concrete silos are better than wood or metal bins because the thick walls insulate the grain from extreme weather
In 1994, this facility was privately owned and was considered a small regional grain elevator. There were 6 locations in the area with a capacity of 4.5 million bushels of storage. It was part of the Texas Grain and Feed Association representing 900 grain, feed and processing firms at that time. Today that organization supports some 400 member companies ranging from sizable producers to medium and small-scale family-owned companies such as feed producers and grain marketing businesses. Ben Boerner, Texas Grain and Feed president noted, “The small-town, family-owned elevators are going the way of the independent grocers,” Boerner says. “The kids aren’t interested in continuing the business, so they’re either selling out or shutting the doors.” (Source: https://www.austinchronicle.com/columns/2008-02-08/589092/)
What is: the Kimo theatre was the first to fuse art deco with Native American architectural/decoration — it was called Pueblo Deco style.
What was: The Kimo theatre came to life a year after the birth of Route 66. It was an example of opulent film theatres that came to life in the 1920s. It was built for both stage productions and motion pictures. In 1961 a fire destroyed parts of it. By 1968 it had fallen into disrepair. It was restored and revitalized in the 1990s.
What is: all that is left were the signs at the side of the road.
What was: Opened in 1935, as the Santa Rosa stretch of Route 66 was completed, The Club Café was a staple of the early Route 66.
It had a blue-tiled frontage and smiling ‘Fat Man’ logo, a happy gent wearing a polka dot tie and looking delighted after, presumably, dining on the Club Café’s home cooking–including the more than two million sourdough biscuits sold as it advertised. In its heyday, the parking lot was filled…with cars and buses.
Along came I-40 and the changing consumer demand for fast foods at big chains. The club closed for good in 1992. New owners thought of bringing it back to life, but the building required $750,000.00 of work so it was demolished. The signs remained until a couple years ago… tattered by wind, sunlight and rust they were removed and sold to a collector.
There is now significant alarm and concern within the Route 66 community over the continued removal of these priceless roadside attractions.
What is: “Self serve Diesel” but no pumps…the lights are still there and so is the sign. The garage remains too…but not the diner.
What was: The truck terminal dated back to the heyday of Route 66 in the early 1960s, maybe as early as 1955. The neon wheels, the cowboy truck driver, and his animated hand waved during its hey day.
It was one of seven truck stops and five cafes originally built and operated by Bessie (Rogers) Boren and husband Ira Lionel Boren of the Fort Sumner-based Rio Pecos Oil Company.“We had it from 1963 to 1969,” Martinez said. “We were doing a hell of a business at that truck stop.”The business declined from other truck-stop competition and the coming of Interstate 40. It closed by the late 1970s or early 1980s.
Since then, it has become a growing eyesore to the city because it drew vandals and homeless squatters. The city tried to buy the sign…the owner wanted too much for it.
What is: Original Route 66, ghostly and abandoned Route 66 near Hext, OK.
What Was: Route 66 has been the path of migrants, dreamers, desperados, and an entire generation of vacationers discovering the way west. America’s Mother Road originally meandered more than 2,400 miles between Chicago and Los Angeles, including nearly 400 miles across Oklahoma. Route 66 through Oklahoma was also known as the Will Rodgers Highway, a tribute to stage, film and vaudeville actor, cowboy, humorist and social commentator of Cherokee descent.
Originally Hext grew as the railroad passed through on the way to Texas. A ranch and farm community, it only had a post office for a year in the early 1900s. As Route 66 came through it had a smattering of buildings and a gas station. Hext also featured a fairly large brick school that was built by the Work Progress Administration in the 1930’s.
Route 66 was never just one road. It was continually realigned through communities and upgraded from 2 to 4 lanes and from cement to asphalt. Route 66 came through Hext in 1929 after being upgraded in a realignment. This section of Route 66 was paved with asphalt over the original 1929 concrete base. In 1973, Route 66 through Hext became the last section of Route 66 to lose its designation to I-40.
What is: A Ford panel sedan delivery truck, at the side of the road, Route 66
What was: Chevrolet is often credited with offering the first true sedan delivery body style in 1928. However, Ford was a leading purveyor of Sedan Delivery vehicles throughout the 1930s. Much of the sheet metal, including the fenders and front doghouse, is shared with the ’37 Ford passenger car. In the 1940s Ford’s Sedan Deliveries carried the styling of Deluxe-series cars — slated “gills” flanking a horizontal-bar grille. Sedan Deliveries also got a larger cargo body that year.
Inside was a beautiful art-deco dashboard, in contrasting colors. Standard equipment included a column gearshift, dual wipers and visors, ashtrays on both sides, full insulation and interior lining — even a clock. Many connoisseurs of design declare it the best-looking sedan delivery ever. There were about 5300 Ford Sedan Delivery models made in 1940. The 1942 Ford Sedan Delivery is rare, as all civilian vehicle manufacturing was halted shortly after Pearl Harbor. Passenger car-based delivery models would not return at Ford until 1952.
Panel trucks were used by construction and maintenance contractors, by farmers for selling fruits and vegetables, delivery vehicles and configured as ambulances and hearses.
The period of time spanning the late 1940’s to the late 1950’s was the golden age of the Sedan Delivery. While Chevrolet and Ford dominated the Sedan Delivery market, a few other manufacturers (such as Pontiac and Studebaker) got in on the action as well. In 1960, Ford’s Sedan Delivery ambitions were transferred from the full-sized Ford line to the brand-new Falcon platform. The Falcon-based vehicle was offered through 1965.
What is: Broyles Mobil Station, Glenrio, NM, at the front is a drive-thru bay with a wood canopy roof extension. This is supported by two original wood posts. On the far right side is an outbuilding which was built as a restrooms.
What was: John Wesley Ferguson constructed the building in 1925ish and it was later owned by Jim Broyles as a franchise of the Mobil Oil Company. The construction of U.S. 66 through Glenrio in the 1920s brought new businesses and a new commercial area evolved along the highway, as the railroad town of Glenrio had started to wane. By the 1960s, the community boasted two motels, three restaurants, and at least seven gas stations
For the past 100 years gas stations have occupied prime locations along main streets, suburban corners, on small town roads and highway. They are one of America’s most commercial building types and over the years have gone through various architectural design iterations. They represent America’s mobility, car culture, pop culture, corporate standardization/branding and the changes in customer service – from staff to fill the tank and clean your windshield, to full service garages, sale of roadmaps, bathrooms, diners and corner stores.
The advent of the Interstate highway network routed traffic away from the once-thriving often family owned gas stations, now located on secondary roads, many falling into disrepair.
In 1969, there were 236,000 gas stations. By 2016, there were 111,000 retail locations in the U.S. that sell fuel to the public. The number of gas stations has been declining over the past ten years due, in part, to increased competition, stricter environmental regulations, and shrinking gasoline profit margins.
Broyles in 2022