Standard Oil
Pontiac, MI
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

This former Standard Oil station in Pontiac retains the house-style appearance once familiar across the Midwest. Its steep roof, compact layout and drive-through canopy made a fuel stop look comfortably at home in the neighborhood. 02-07

Standard adopted designs like this beginning in the 1920s. Even without the pumps or signs, the building recalls a time when station architecture helped identify the company before motorists reached the driveway.

UPDATE: The station’s exact location and current status remain unconfirmed. It survived beyond its fueling days, but whether it still stands is uncertain. 06-26

Standard Oil
Sturgis, MI
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

This Standard Oil station in Sturgis found another job after gasoline sales ended. When photographed, it housed Action Glass, keeping the little building useful instead of sending it toward demolition. 02-07

Built in 1923 along Chicago Road, now U.S. 12, it reflects Standard’s familiar house-style design. The architecture helped early stations blend into their neighborhoods while giving motorists a recognizable place to stop.

UPDATE: The restored station now serves as the Sturgis Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center. Travelers can still pull in, though directions have replaced gasoline on the list of services. 06-26

Amoco - Standard Oil (Demolished)
Dearborn, MI
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

This Dearborn Amoco station began as a Standard Oil location, carrying two familiar identities during its working life. Updated branding gave the older building another chapter before its demolition in 2006. 02-07

Across the Midwest, many Standard stations received Amoco signs and alterations rather than immediate replacement. Buildings like this recorded that transition in their mix of older architecture and newer advertising.

UPDATE: The station and pump islands are gone, and the property has been redeveloped. 06-26

Standard Oil (now Home Health Professionals)
Sturgis, MI
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

This former Standard Oil station in Sturgis housed Home Health Professionals when photographed. The pumps were gone, but the house-style building remained easy to recognize as an earlier neighborhood fuel stop. 02-07

Designs like this helped Standard stations fit into residential streets during the 1920s and 1930s. Here, the compact building proved useful for another business after motorists stopped arriving for gasoline.

UPDATE: The property continued in commercial office use after its station years. Its exact location and present condition remain unconfirmed. 06-26

Gas Station
Williamston, MI
Photo and info courtesy Richard Weiss

This little stone gas station outside Williamston is one of my favorites. Photographed in March 2005, it looked remarkably unchanged when revisited later. Worth slowing down for along Grand River Avenue. 02-07

Its fieldstone walls give it a different character from the standardized stations built by major oil companies. Even without pumps, it retains the appearance of a small highway stop from before the interstate changed the route.

UPDATE: The former station remains standing and well maintained along Grand River Avenue. The fuel business is gone, but the sturdy stone building still attracts attention. 06-26

Discount Tobacco
Anderson, IN
Photo and info courtesy Craig Selvey

Discount Tobacco gave this former Anderson gas station another retail role at Willow Street and Broadway, the route of old State Road 9. Customers stopped for something different, but the building stayed useful. 03-07

The canopy and pump islands disappeared, while the compact layout retained clues to its earlier life. Former filling stations can be easy to overlook once a new sign goes up.

UPDATE: The building remains in commercial use at the same corner, preserving another small piece of Anderson’s roadside history. 06-26

Zinser's Cookies and Goodies (Gone)
Anderson, IN
Photo courtesy Craig Selvey

Zinser’s Cookies and Goodies gave this former Anderson gas station a sweeter second career. At Broadway and Thompson Avenue, fresh cookies replaced gasoline as the reason to pull in. 03-07

Later known as Zinszer’s Bakery & Cookies, the business served the neighborhood for more than forty years. The old station survived changing traffic patterns along former State Road 9 by finding an entirely different use.

UPDATE: The bakery has permanently closed, though the former station building remains standing. Another chapter ended, but the little roadside structure survived. 06-26

Old Gas Station
Anderson, IN
Photo courtesy Craig Selvey

This former gas station on Broadway in Anderson traded automotive service for a lawyer’s office. The pumps disappeared, but the familiar building shape still offered a clue to its earlier occupation. 03-07

Along old State Road 9, stations like this once handled fuel, repairs and neighborhood traffic. Some vanished when larger facilities arrived; this one found another purpose. A prime roadside location could remain useful even when the business changed completely.

UPDATE: The exact property history and current use remain unconfirmed. It housed a lawyer’s office when photographed, providing another example of a small station adapted rather than demolished. 06-26