Tuesday afternoon The Garage hosted a Lunch and Learn event focusing on the recent restoration project of the historical 9th and Bishop St. gas station. Michelle Peck, Executive Director of the Garage, noted "Man oh man, have we had some buzz around Salina and Kansas about restoring this gas station. Our board of directors believed in this project full force, and it took a team of people from this community and throughout Kansas to help us restore the property and get it to where it is today"
On July 28th, 1933 Vern Maupin a representative of Shell Oil Corporation was granted a plot of land and began work on the new filling station on 9th and Bishop. Johnson Brothers Construction Company was responsible for finishing the construction of the station in 1935.
Ted Johnson was President of the Johnson Brothers Construction Company. He was the father-in-law to David Ernsbarger of Salina who visited with staff at The Garage to share stories of the gas station and was one of the main sources helping to confirm the history of the 9th and Bishop gas station.
Based on The Garage records and research, from 1933 to 1948 the little gas station was owned by Shell. In 1948 it was deeded over to Reimold Properties Inc. / High-Quality Low-Cost. In 1982 business stopped at the station and it has remained inactive since.
Taylor Petrolium owned the property from 1982 to 1986, and Dart Investment took over the property from 1986 to 1989.
St. John's Baptist Church acquired the property in 1989. The Church sat in the plot between the Dairy Queen and where the Station sits. In 1999 the church was taking a look at expanding. They put in a bid to the city to tear down the station and the warehouse behind it. Because the station was deemed a historical resource, relocation of the building to the Kansas Flywheels Museum was considered. Ultimately the bid to tear down or relocate was rejected in November of 1999. Ten days later the church burned down.
In 2001 the property was deeded over to the Buster Family. Bob Buster the owner has now leased the property to The Garage for fifteen years from 2024 to 2039, allowing them to restore the building and property.
In deciding what period to restore the old station to, Matthew Miller-Wells Executive Director of The Garage says "Originally it was a shell gas station, but not too many photos exist of that, not too much is mentioned that we could find. So the decision was made instead that it should probably go back to what most people in this day and age remember it as, what it operated as, probably for the most amount of time, which was High-Quality Low-Cost."
There has been a lot of speculation about what the station will be used for after restoration. Mr. Miller-Wells has been asked if it will be a smaller oil museum or if the station will do actual service work. "No," Matthew answers. "Ultimately the goal was, let's preserve the station, let's talk about the history of just gas stations in general, from the earliest days of a price-gouging horse stable, up to the EV supercharging stations of now, and let's do something to actually fix this building so it doesn't have to be torn down."
Matthew Miller-Wells also says about the goal in restoration, "We wanted to bring it back, not to do a full inside-outside restoration, but to make it presentable. So that way when folks roll into town it's something fun to look at, a great photo op, and it makes people realize we're not like most small Kansas towns."
Tom Pestinger president of The Garage has been the head of the project, rallying his friends, family, and businesses to come together to make this project happen. March 24th, 2024 the restoration began. The building was power washed, concrete restored, the building painted, new windows and doors put in, and much more.
Dennis Russell restored the two 1946 gas pumps which were found inside the old station. One Tokheim and one Wayne (Ethyl Pump)
Restored gas pumps
Tom Pestinger's slogan is "We have the cheapest gas in town, our regular is twenty cents, our ethyl is 25 cents, unfortunately, we're out."
The Garage sign that stands in the lot of the station was hand-made by Pestinger, with the posts for the sign and street light salvaged from "the bone pile" behind FerCo, taken out of an old gas station previously. The sign weighs 378 lbs and has a foundation 36in around and 8ft deep.
Sign and street lamp
Pestinger estimates over one thousand people have stopped to admire the building and take pictures with their cars, just since Lead Sled happened in July. Pestinger says five to ten people an evening are stopping by to take pictures.
Go check out the restored gas station at 9th and Bishop, and for upcoming projects and events check out The Garage in person or online. https://seama.org
