Life is a Highway...Enjoy the View - New Oxford, PA
N 39° 51.936 W 077° 03.003
18S E 324659 N 4414851
This sign of history interprets the Lincoln Highway and the artistically painted fuel pump accompanying the Lincoln Heritage Corridor sign.
Waymark Code: WMFVT5
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 12/05/2012
Views: 6
New Oxford is a small town that has grown up along the Lincoln Highway. There are all sorts of signs/sights/sites to see commemorating their place along the Lincoln Highway. An original Lincoln Highway stone marker remains in the square of New Oxford, although I cannot find it. This colorful, antique gas pump at Aero Energy in New Oxford is definitely one of the Lincoln jewels. The pump is interpreted through official heritage sign boards. I found another sign board with audio i located at the Altland House Restaurant in Abbottstown, up the road a bit at the circle. This sign of history reads:
Traveling the Lincoln Highway gave people a sense of freedom and spontaneity. However, there came a new responsibility - taking care of the vehicle. Livery stables and blacksmith shops were replaced by gasoline and service stations. As a result, the industry of petroleum products began to grow.
The Aero Oil Company was incorporated in 1929. The first station opened October 26, 1929 in New Oxford with two additional stations built in 1930 in Gettysburg and Hanover. The company distributed Fleet Wing Petroleum Products, McCreary Tires and Reading Batteries until 1946. Then the company changed its source of supply to the Atlantic Refining Company. At the close of business in August 31, 1949, the deliveries of petroleum totaled over 103 million gallons.
In 1995, former Governor Tom Ridge designated a 200-mile, six-county stretch of the Lincoln Highway in south-central Pennsylvania as an official heritage area, with the intent of increasing economic development through tourism. Abbottstown is the formal Eastern Gateway to the Lincoln Highway Heritage Park, but then comes this town, New Oxford. Stretches of the Lincoln Highway have been re-signed with the old red, white, and blue striped shields with the large blue "L" on them. I have waymarked several of them in the immediate area. For a one time fee of $30, an individual can "adopt" one of these signs to be placed somewhere along the original Lincoln Highway within the corridor.
The gas pump is about twelve feet high and mostly sky blue. There is a road running down the center with streetscapes and landscapes painted along the way. The pump is right in front of the building. The pump was designed by Joh Ricci and is called "Life is a Highway...Enjoy the View". The interpretive is similar in every way (except for text) to all the other interpretives I have found running from Abbottstown (east of here) all the way through to Gettysburg (west of here).