FIRST Phillips 66 Service Station in Texas - Turkey, TX
N 34° 23.577 W 100° 53.704
14S E 325793 N 3807354
A 2019 Texas Historical Marker in front of the 1928 Phillips 66 station at 501 Main St in Turkey, TX notes that this was the company's first service station in Texas.
Waymark Code: WM1575E
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/28/2021
Views: 1
This service station is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, and the historical marker out front provides some background:
The community of Turkey, settled in the 1890s, went through a period of rapid economic growth in the mid-1920s. The city benefited from its location on branches of two early automobile roads: the regional Ozark Trail and the coast-to-coast Bankhead Highway. Turkey was also served by the Fort Worth and Denver South Plains Railway, which connected developing agricultural areas of the Panhandle and South Plains. Turkey incorporated in 1926 and by 1927 had an estimated 600 residents. By 1929, the city had two banks and about 1,000 residents.
Along with the arrival of the railroad, the availability of gasoline for automobiles and farm equipment contributed to Turkey’s impressive growth. The Phillips Petroleum Company, incorporated in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 1917, established its first refinery near Borger in 1927 and opened its first gasoline service station in Wichita, Kansas, later that same year. Phillips invested heavily in infrastructure in Turkey, with a railroad loading dock, bulk terminal buildings, fuel depot and several storage tanks.
The culmination of their investment in Turkey was a new Phillips 66 service station which opened on Main Street on July 27, 1928, their first such facility in Texas. The station offered employment, served as a community gathering place, and provided essential automotive services for travelers and the bustling community. Early Phillips 66 service stations were typically located in residential areas, and their designs attempted to blend in with surrounding homes. The Turkey service station is a virtually intact example of the Tudor Revival style, with brick construction, a high-pitched roof, arched doorway, front gable, chimney with letter "P" and "Phillips 66" glass half-globes. It is an important site in the state's history of settlement, transportation and architecture.
FIRST - Classification Variable: Item or Event
Date of FIRST: 07/27/1928
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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