| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
In 1912, one year after the breakup of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil trust, the Standard Oil Company built a filling station on this site and leased it to an operator. Leasing stations rather than operating them outright followed Progressive Era antitrust laws, which restricted the vertical integration of industrial production and distribution.
Like most early gas stations, this one probably consisted of one or two pumps and a simple brick or metal office shed, but it was replaced around 1924 by this charming one-story brick structure. By that time, with automobile ownership skyrocketing and oil-industry competition intensifying, companies had begun using gas station architecture to build corporate name recognition and brand loyalty.
Many, like this one, looked like little cottages, so they would blend into their neighborhoods--and so the oil companies could link themselves to cozy, domestic images of home and family. This station resembles a cottage, with its steeply pitched side-gabled roof, cross-gable (inset with a Standard Oil clock) over the off-center entry, glazed front door, and trio of front-facing windows. The pumps alongside the building are of 1920s vintage, but they are not original to this site.
The Slight family leased this station from Standard Oil before buying it outright in 1931. Their business surely benefited from burgeoning automobile tourist traffic. In fact, the Slights also owned a cabin camp (a precursor to the modern motel) nearby. The cabins no longer stand, but the old bathhouse with showers remains.
This filling station exhibits a steeply pitched, side-gabled roof with a steeply pitched wall dormer over the entrance door. The facade has a grouping of three windows, which are decorated with vertical mutins in the top sash and a single sash in the bottom.
This station was a part of a complex that contained 14 cabins and a bathhouse. Only the bathhouse and station remain. |
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