The Standard Oil Gasoline Station is a historic

gas station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

Odell, Illinois Odell is a village in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,046 at the 2010 census. Media In October 2006, Odell was featured on the USA Food Network's "Riding Old Route 66", which visited the Standard Oil station. G ...

, that lies along historic

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

. Before the days of the interstate highway system the station served patrons along the highway's cross country jaunt. It is fairly typical of gas stations along the historic corridor.

History

The station was built in 1932 when a contractor, Patrick O'Donnell purchased the small by piece of land the station stands on. The land lies on the southwest side of the Livingston County town. O'Donnell's plan was to build a gas station that he could lease to his son. The project went ahead and the station was modeled after a 1916

Standard Oil of Ohio The Standard Oil Company (Ohio) was an American petroleum industry, petroleum company that existed from 1870 to 1987. The company, known commonly as Sohio, was founded by John D. Rockefeller. It was established as one of the separate entities cre ...

design. The station is of the house and canopy style and includes work bays which were clearly added at a later date. Upon careful inspection the interior walls of the bays reveal the later origin. The station continued to sell Standard Oil products for its first several years but by 1940 it had switched to

Phillips 66 The Phillips 66 Company is an American Multinational corporation, multinational energy company headquartered in Westchase, Houston, Texas. Its name, dating back to 1927 as a trademark of the Phillips Petroleum Company, assisted in establishing ...

brands. At least nine other stations besides O'Donnell's dotted this part of Route 66 through Odell, the competition drove the addition of the bays by the 1940s. Between 1940 and 1952 the station underwent a number of changes.March 2004
, Route 66 Association of Illinois, Preservation News. At one point, the station went from Phillips 66 to

Sinclair Sinclair may refer to: Places * Lake Sinclair, near Milledgeville, Georgia * Mount Sinclair, Canada * Sinclair, Iowa * Sinclair, West Virginia * Sinclair, Wyoming * Sinclair Mills, British Columbia * Sinclair Township, Minnesota * Sincl ...

products. Eventually, in 1952, Robert Close leased the station from O'Donnell. When O'Donnell died, Close purchased the property from his estate. He moved his family into the adjacent cafe which had been converted into a house. They stayed there until it burned in the 1970s. Close continued to do body work at the station until 1999. It was that year that the Village of Odell purchased the station for the express purpose of historic restoration. The Route 66 Association of Illinois took interest in the project and nominated the property for inclusion on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, a status it was granted on November 9. 1997. Route 66 began to decline as early as the mid-1940s. A bypass was constructed around Odell in 1946, traffic was directed around the strip that held the gas stations and businesses started to disappear. The O'Donnell station persisted until 1967, largely because it offered services as well as gasoline.

Notes

{{Standard Oil National Register of Historic Places in Livingston County, Illinois Gas stations on U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 in Illinois Transport infrastructure completed in 1932 Retail buildings in Illinois Gas stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Transportation buildings and structures in Livingston County, Illinois 1932 establishments in Illinois Energy infrastructure completed in 1932

History

See also

Notes