Every once in a while, when there’s gridlock on the interstate, I have to take an alternate route through the dirtier, more industrial section of the city, When I do, I pass this plaque.
For those of you who are unable to view the image, it says, “Site of the World’s First Service Station. Here in the spring of 1907 an odd but ingenious contraption was erected by the late John McLean of Standard Oil Company of California for the unprecedented function of dispensing gasoline and oil directly to a motorist. From this significant pioneer effort came one of the greatest conveniences to the public – the service station. Erected by Standard Oil Company of California, June 5, 1947.
Can you feel the pride pouring forth from this historical marker? Standard Oil makes it sound like it was doing the world a great favor by making it easy to separate us all from our money, don’t they? And that convenience quickly became impossible for any of us to resist.
When I pass that proud plaque, I always think, “And thus began the demise of our planet.” But then, I am driving by in a car, so who am I to sit in judgment?
If you’re passing through and are interested, the site is easy to overlook. It’s a low, concrete block beside a chain link gate, at 2225 E. Marginal Way S, in one of the ugliest, shabbiest parts of Seattle. I doubt that many of the people who walk in that area are in the proper state of mind to read it or care what it says.
But for those who do care, this marker is controversial. Shell Oil Company claims to have opened the first service station in St. Louis in 1905, but its location is now buried under interstate 64, so there’s nothing left to commemorate. And Pittsburgh claims that theirs was the first true service station in 1913. It actually provided service, they say, whereas those things in Seattle and St. Louis amounted to single pumps with garden hoses. And Pittsburgh isn’t wrong in that description, based on this photograph of the one here in Seattle.
Before gas stations, people would go to the general store or a livery stable and purchase gasoline in two 5-gallon cans that were enclosed in wooden boxes. That must have been quite heavy and time consuming. Shop owners would refill these cans from storage tanks that they would keep on site. So, you’d drop off your empties and buy full ones, much like we do with propane tanks today when we are planning to have a barbecue.
This shabby little garden hose pump station must have seemed like a godsend at the time. And 47 years later, when Standard Oil wanted to promote a bright, shiny new service station, they decided it was the perfect time to commemorate that amazing innovation while people still remembered how much of a hassle fueling their vehicles used to be. So, even though the plaque says the first station was in the Spring of 1907 (the exact date having been lost to time), the plaque was erected on a Thursday, June 5, 1947 in its shabby location. I wonder how many people showed up. I’m thinking it was not as densely attended as the grand opening of their nice new station on Friday, June 6th at 6th Avenue and Olive Way, practically in the center of town. (And incidentally, there is no gas station at that intersection today. Funny to think that both locations are now station-less.)
If only there was a way to go back in time and alter our course. Think of how much slower the pace of society would be. Think of how clean the planet would be. Think of how many wars would not have been fought if we hadn’t learned to lust after oil.
Instead, we have this plaque. Lucky us. It will probably still be here long after we’re gone. It serves as a fitting monument to our own stupidity.
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