more on and question more on gasoline price history

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Andy Castaneda <andyc () idealab com>
Date: September 1, 2005 6:32:06 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: RE: [IP] and question more on gasoline price history


Dave,

For fellow IPer's if you wish.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The history of the gas station
By Ira Rosofsky
Faces. Peterborough: Feb 2005. Vol. 21, Iss. 6;  pg. 14, 4 pgs

In 1900, there were 20 million horses and only 4,000 cars in the United
States. Where there are gas stations today, stables and blacksmith shops
stood.

In its early days, the oil industry existed to manufacture kerosene, a
fuel for lamps. Gasoline was a waste by-product of this process -
something usually thrown away.

Early motorists, looking for this abundant waste product, went to their
local general store or kerosene refinery and filled up a bucket from a
barrel of gasoline. This practice was not exactly convenient or safe.

The need for cheap and plentiful gasoline grew as the need for kerosene
fell with the rise of electric lighting. In 1905, about 25,000 cars were
manufactured in the United States, and Sylvanus F. Bowser perfected a
pump that would take gas out of a barrel and fill a car's tank. The
world's first "filling stations" started opening that same year.

Typically, a general store would place a pump out front on the sidewalk.
Soon, cars were snaking up and down Main Street, blocking the movement
of pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages.

This problem grew much worse by 1910, when there were 500,000 cars
looking for gas and blocking traffic while doing it.

A new type of filling station began to appear - the drive-in. Sometimes
covered by a canvas awning, the pump would be located on a lot off the
street, and maybe the pump would even stand next to a store that sold
auto supplies and food - a business similar to the gas station we know
today.

Around the same time, the government broke up Standard oil, which
controlled most of the oil in the United States, into a number of
smaller companies.

Suddenly, many new companies were competing for customers. Gas was cheap
and plentiful. How did a new company get motorist to buy its gas rather
than a competitor's?

In 1914, Standard Oil of California developed a standard design for its
34 gas stations. The company also put their employees in uniforms,
provided free air for tires, and gave away road maps. When you drove
into a Standard Oil station, you might have a whole team pumping your
gas, checking your oil and tires, and cleaning your windshield.

Oil companies competed by seeing who could provide the most free
services.

Architect Robert Venturi has called the gas station one of the world's
first examples of a "decorated shed." A decorated shed is the opposite
of a building designed to look beautiful, such as a cathedral. It is a
building with this main architectural purpose: to be a backdrop for a
sign that advertises what is sold inside. On any commercial strip, signs
are what first catch the eye, not usually the design of the buildings.

From signs and slogans, motorists knew then as they know now that they
could find something reliably comfortable and familiar no matter how far
from home they traveled. Just as many people are "lovin' it" at any
McDonald's of today, you could "trust your car to the man who wears the
star" at any Texaco gas station in the 1930s.

The basic gas station design has remained the same over time: a big sign
over a shed containing auto supplies and snacks; a pump with an awning;
and bays for service.

However, not all stations were completely standardized. Just as
distinctively different food stands exist, distinctively different gas
stations were built. They were usually not part of a chain and relied on
looking different to attract attention. Some of these buildings are what
Venturi called "ducks" - buildings designed to look like what they are
selling. The name came from a business shaped like a duck that sold
ducklings on Long Island, New York.

In Maryville, Missouri, motorists could fill up at a gas station shaped
like a gas pump. In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, you can see a
preserved Shell Oil gas station in the shape of a shell. Other stations,
while not quite "ducks," were still unusual. Many East Coast gas
stations looked like lighthouses. Other gas stations were designed in
the shape of teepees or windmills. These remarkable shapes were attempts
to draw attention while competing with the overly familiar national
chains.

Unusual designs became less common as the large oil chains came to
dominate the sale of gas, much as national department store chains have
put local general stores out of business.

However, old gas stations are not forgotten. Many enthusiastic people
are devoted to the hobby of pctroliana. They collect old gasoline signs,
oilcans, even old gas pumps. Many of them dream of restoring old gas
stations in much the same way as a group restored the shell-shaped Shell
station in Winston-Salem.

In comparison, the corporate gas station has remained purely practical.

Perhaps the greatest change in the gas station experience started in the
1970s, when gas started becoming scarcer and more expensive. The oil
companies realized that it was expensive to provide free maps, free
windshield washings, and free air for your tires. Now they will be happy
to sell you a road map, let you wash your own windshield, and charge you
a quarter to put air in your tires.

And you have to pump your own gas.

It is expensive to pay for a squad of people to fuss over your car.
Today, one clerk takes your money while you do all the work.

Is this convenience worth the loss of the fun of getting gassed up at a
lighthouse?

[Sidebar]
Captain of Industry
John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) started working while still a young man
as a bookkeeper for a shipping firm. He then became a partner in a small
grain and livestock business, which was very profitable during the Civil
War. His next venture was a small oil firm in Ohio. By the 1880s,
Rockefeller's Standard Oil had become a worldwide oil-refining
powerhouse. Rockefeller was a demanding and sometimes ruthless
businessman. He also was very religious throughout his life. He founded
the University of Chicago in 1892. During his retirement, the oil baron
gave more than half of his $800 million fortune to charitable
organizations.

[Author Affiliation]
Ira Rosofsky is a psychologist who lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with
his wife and three children. He is writing a children's book on
psychology, titled Why You Do the Things You Do.


---------------
Andy Castaneda
Principal
Talent|Miners



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