Snapshots of History

By Editor | April 29, 2025 |

Gas pump at Watterson, circa 1950.

By Mike Avitt
This week’s photo was taken about 1950 and the photographer gives us a full length view of the Red Crown gas pump in front of the Watterson Store.
I can read the words “Red Crown” on the front of the pump. Red Crown was a grade of gasoline sold by the Standard Oil Company and this is an electric gas pump.
Electricity came to rural Ringgold County beginning in 1946. The man squatting on the right is Neil Johnston and I believe the little girl is Vernadean Hacker.
So, Watterson didn’t have a full-blown service station, but it did sell gasoline. It was common for smaller communities to have gas pumps in front of stores beginning in the 1920s.
The first news I find for a gas pump in Ringgold City was in the April 18, 1923 Record-News.
Merritt W. Hayes was selling Red Crown gas from his store in Ringgold City. This is relatively early as the first gas pump in Ringgold County was November 1920. Standard Oil was the most popular petroleum company in the early days.
The Tingley Vindicator tells us the store of Day Carter and Fred Heyer received an electric Red Crown gasoline sign in November 1921. Williams Hardware also received a sign but it was non-electric.
The first service station built in Tingley was in November 1923.
An advertisement in1932 tells us there was a gas pump in front of Dillenburg’s Store in Benton. There was an auto garage in Benton as early as 1921 that, no doubt, sold gas.
Before gas pumps and service stations, gasoline was sold by blacksmith shops, hardware stores, and implement dealers.
Sinclair was another popular brand in the early days.
The first Skelly Station I found in Ringgold County was in Diagonal in August 1924. C. H. Snodgrass was the manager. Phillips 66 first appeared in our county in 1932 with several outlets around including the Watterson Store operated by O. B. and Hazel Davis.
In 1937 I find the first Texaco Station which sold Fire Chief gasoline and Havoline motor oil.
Jack Grubb operated the station located on the lot where Loren Lamb built his house many decades ago.
The first service station I found in Ellston opened in January 1927 with O. K. Knight as operator. In November 1929, Frank Treichler had a couple of gas pumps installed at his lumber yard in Ellston.
In my research I found some additional information on last week’s subject.
Kellerton had a service station on the highway, in the north part of town, that featured a lunch counter and had tourist cabins in connection. A snippet in the May 2, 1929 Record-News informs us W. H. Cone leased that station to the Kellerton Oil Company on account of Mr. Cone’s poor health. William Burchett would manage the service station for the Kellerton Oil Company.
Mobil Gasoline was being supplied by tank wagon operator H. C. Boyles by 1932. Mobilgas was directly related to White Eagle Gasoline, another popular brand in the early days of Ringgold County motoring.
Automobiles first appeared in Ringgold County in 1905 and were common by 1910-12. Cars were fairly dangerous in these days because they were high off the ground and top-heavy.
Cars rolled often as the roads were bad to poor. Many a driver had their arms broken by the crank handle recoiling. Tires were inferior and required a great deal of repair. Car batteries had to be recharged at a battery station or garage. Bad weather made all these difficulties even worse.
Cars are very easy to operate today and they are very comfortable. But, I wish we could bring back the old advertising and slogans. “You can trust your car to the man who wears the Star, the big red Texaco Star.”