Atwell and Son - Ann Arbor, Michigan - Vintage Gas Stations on Waymarking.com

In an October 2000 Article in the Ann Arbor Observer (visit link) entitled Gasoline Alley, author Grace Shackman tells of the rise an fall of the gas stations in Ann Arbor.

She tells us about this station here-

"Cheap and easy to put up, gas stations became the signature buildings of the automotive age. The first ones were often primitive. Hoists weren’t invented until 1925, and not all stations could immediately afford them. Instead, mechanics climbed into pits in the floor to work under cars. Illi’s Auto Service, at 401 West Huron, still has three of the five pits used when the building was the Atwell and Son gas station in the 1930s. The pits are now covered with boards. “We had a robbery here once, and they pried the boards off. They must have thought we hid the safe under there. They must have been surprised when all they saw was the basement,” laughs owner Ray Roberts."

and
"Concerned citizens, not just in Ann Arbor but around the country, began complaining that these hastily constructed buildings were a blight on the landscape. Gas companies reacted by commissioning more elegant designs. In 1925 Waldo Abbott built a gas station at William and Maynard designed to look like a Greek temple. A few years later, the Atwell station (now Illi’s) was designed to resemble a castle, complete with parapets and turrets."

Address of the station: 401 W. Huron Ann Arbor, MI USA 48104 Type of Gas Station: Reborn

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Date Logged Log User Rating   04/02/2012 Team B Squared visited it