The first modern gas station. Image courtesy of the National Association of Convenience Stores.
On December 1, 1913, Gulf Refining Company opened a new type of retail store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Designed expressly for the purpose of selling gasoline as a fuel for motorists, the kiosk-like building was also the first architect-designed fueling station, and the first to distribute free road maps to drivers.
On its first day in business, the station dispensed 30 gallons of “Good Gulf Gasoline,” sold at a price of 27 cents per gallon (for net sales of $8.10). While that might seem like a bargain, in 2013 dollars that translates to a price of $6.37 per gallon; with just 500,000 automobiles on the (mostly) dirt and gravel roads of America, demand for gasoline was still relatively low, leading to a higher per-gallon price. From these humble beginnings, an entire industry was spawned, and by the end of the decade filling stations and curbside gasoline pumps would dot the landscape, providing convenience for the growing population of automobiles sold each year.
While the Gulf station in Pittsburgh may have been the first “modern” fueling station, it was not the first gas station in the United States. At the turn of the century, gasoline was sold in open containers at pharmacies, blacksmith shops, hardware stores and other retailers looking to make a few extra dollars of profit. In 1905, a Shell subsidiary opened a filling station in St. Louis, Missouri, but it required attendants to fill a five gallon can behind the store, then haul this to the customer’s vehicle for dispensing. A similar filling station was constructed by Socal gasoline in Seattle, Washington, opening in 1907.
Over the years, gas stations have evolved to meet market needs and customer expectations. In 1916, Standard Oil of Ohio debuted the first prefabricated canopy, allowing service station attendants to stay dry while tanking up customers in inclement weather. By the early 1920s, many larger cities had enacted fire safety ordinances banning curbside gasoline pumps and effectively requiring gasoline retailers to construct free-standing structures, set back from the road, to dispense fuel. As the decade came to a close, 24-hour fueling stations, designed to meet the needs of truckers, began to appear along major thoroughfares while “trackside operators,” the forerunners of today’s discount Brand-X retailers, dispensed cheap gasoline directly from rail cars parked on sidings.
In 1947, the first “self service” gasoline station was opened by Frank Ulrich in Los Angeles, California. While others had tried the concept before (such as the Hoosier Petroleum Company, which attempted the concept in 1930), Ulrich’s station was the first to be approved by the state fire marshal, and, hence, the first to remain in business for any length of time. By offering customers a five-cent per-gallon savings to pump their own gasoline, Ulrich was able to sell an impressive 500,000 gallons in his first month of operation. The station still required attendants, as the pumps needed to be reset between customers; it wasn’t until 1964 that the first remote-operated pumps debuted at a station in Westminster, Colorado.
Today, 152,995 gas stations dot the landscape, including 123,289 convenience stores. While that’s still a substantial number, it’s down considerably from the 1994 peak, when 202,800 locations served motorists from coast to coast. Of stations that also include convenience stores, the average location sells an estimated 4,000 gallons of fuel per day, quite a jump from the 30 gallons sold at the Gulf station in Pittsburgh on December 1, 1913.
[Editor's Note: Never fear, faithful readers, the SIA Flashback will return next Sunday. Given the timing of this anniversary, we thought we'd run this story instead.]