Snapshots of History

By Editor | May 14, 2025 |

This week’s picture shows station manager Art Clayton servicing what appears to be a 1928 Chevrolet at the Diagonal Skelly in 1932.
Art is wearing a white uniform and I can see three gravity-flow gasoline pumps on a beautifully landscaped driveway. The movie theater can be seen to the left. A large sign advertises Tagolene Motor Oil.
Goob’s Repair occupies this lot today.
The Skelly Oil Company was established in Oklahoma in 1919 and was bought out by J. Paul Getty in the 1930s. The service station seen here was replaced by a more modern building in 1951.
The Diagonal Skelly started out as a Community Service Station. In July 1920, a large supply tank was stationed along the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy railroad tracks as a holding tank.
Construction of the service station was delayed somewhat by late arriving building material. H. M. Polen was the first customer at the new station on November 16, 1920.
An advertisement in the November 25, 1920 Diagonal Reporter announces the Community Service Station is “Open for Business” with Lee Lightner as manager. The ad also informs the readers that a tank wagon truck was available for rural deliveries.
Trucks were a fairly new invention in 1920 and there were no graveled roads yet, but the demand was present.
In another newspaper article, the truck is described as a one and three-quarter ton truck with a 400 gallon tank. The truck would also be used to deliver gas to the service station from the supply tank at the railroad tracks.
Such was the demand for auto service more stations had to be built. In January 1926, E. E. Morrow obtained the material for construction of a brick and stucco service station north of the sale barn. I believe the station sat on the lot now occupied by the Diagonal Volunteer Fire Department. Work on the new station progressed rapidly but it would be April before it was warm enough to apply the stucco.
The Diagonal newspaper reports that Morrow’s Standard Oil Service Station opened May 1, 1926. Any customer purchasing five gallons or more of gasoline received one quart of motor oil free on opening day.
In July 1927, Paul Eason leased the Standard Station from Mr. Morrow. Eason placed an ad in the Reporter stating that he would keep the station open for business “at all reasonable hours.” Paul was twenty-one years old at this time.
Another station would soon be built by Carson Williams. Mr. Williams is one of my favorite characters in Ringgold County history. He worked as a bank executive at more than one bank, he served as editor and publisher at more than one newspaper, he owned and operated more than one auto dealership, and built at least one gas station. His fault seems to be that he could not stay put.
Ground breaking took place in March 1928 on the location of the former Phillips 66 Station. The new service station would be constructed of brick and be made modern in every way. The Diagonal Reporter twice commented on how this corner would be beautified after having been an empty lot for many years.
The new station opened in either late April or early May of 1928 with the station under the lease of the Diagonal Oil Company. Charles Huss was the first manager. The telephone number was 84, a number that would remain for decades.
The station advertised Tiolene Motor Oil and that gave me enough information to research the service station brand. Tiolene was a product of the Pure Oil Company which was later purchased by Union 76.
It appears this filling station became a Phillips 66 in 1933.
There were more Diagonal service stations than this, but this should give you an idea of how quickly auto travel and ownership grew in the 1920s.
Also, I have a fascination with discontinued products like Skelly, Skylark, Red Crown, White Eagle, etc. Happy motoring!