West End Service Station

West End Service Station. For nearly four decades, this charming brick building served as a bustling automobile service station on America's most iconic highway, US Route 66 - which ran right past this location through the heart of Edwardsville. Travelers and locals by the scores would stop, re-fuel, have their oil changed, get their tires checked, and enjoy a cold soda. , 1927 - Edwardsville resident Henry Springer established Springer's Madison Oil Co. here at the corner of St. Louis and West Streets and built a small brick structure with a canopy and two Texaco fuel pumps. , 1936 - Owners Robert Smith and Ralph Ladd changed the name to the West End Service Station. It featured Mobil gas and oil products and boasted a new hydraulic hoist and air pressure lubrication system., 1939 - The West End Service Station closed temporarily for the repaving of Route 66 through Edwardsville. The existing brick pavement was pulverized and replaced with concrete. The West End Service Station used this opportunity to make improvements to the facility. The old building was demolished and the one you see today was constructed. The new station re-opened on August 5, 1939, under the management of Edwardsville residents Ralph and Earl Ladd. With its ideal location on this prime Route 66 corner, in the stylish "West End" of Edwardsville, the West End Service Station was a hive of activity. , 1948 - Two local mechanics, Henry "Hank" Dohle and Robert "Doc" Heidinger, teamed up and purchased the West End Service Station. Hank and Doc operated the station for the next 12 years, at a time when it was not only a mainstay for Route 66 travelers but also a stop for neighborhood regulars to listen to a ballgame, read the newspaper, enjoy friendly conversation, and maybe even have their car serviced. , 1961 - The West End Service Station was purchased by Ralph Ellsworth, who operated Ralph's Mobil Service Station, offering washing, greasing, brake work, tires, batteries, wheel balancing, and of course, fuel. As his business grew, Ellsworth moved his service station to a larger lot down the street, to the corner of West Street and Schwarz. , 1964 - Around the time that I-55 bypassed Edwardsville, ending the Route 66 era, the station was purchased by a local dentist, Dr. Robert Marks. For the next 55 years, it served as an office to a series of dentists - Dr. Robert Marks, Dr. Dale Claussen and Dr. Beau Moody - giving new meaning to the term "filling station.", 2022 - The City of Edwardsville purchased the West End Service Station at public auction to create this Route 66 historic site and visitor center, in conjunction with the Great Rivers and Routes Tourism Bureau. , (photo captions on left side:), ·US Route 66, which ran from Chicago, IL to Long Beach, CA was first established in 1926 on a series of local roads, originally paved with bricks., ·With the rationing of rubber during World War II, the West End Station became an official government tire inspection site. , (sidebar:), The West End Service Station is one of Edwardsville's few remaining Route 66 landmarks and one of the last original Route 66 service stations in nearly 60 miles.