Service stationIn 1913, the first U.S. drive-in automobile service station opened at the high traffic intersection of Baum Boulevard and St. Clair Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, operated by the Gulf Refining Company. The brick, pagoda-style station featured free air, water, crankcase service, restrooms and a lighted sign for "Good Gulf Gasoline." It was open all night. Opening-day sales amounted to just 30 gallons, at 27 cents each. By the first Saturday, however, the word had spread: Gulf sold over 350 gallons that day. (The Standard Oil Company of California opened the first service station, little more than a shed, in 1907, near its Seattle kerosene refinery.) |
