On the Road —
“I Like Gas Stations” – Jerry Davis’ Hobby
Keith A. Sculle
“We both like gas stations,” Jerry Davis declared when I first talked to him. His restored 1938-Sinclair model in Henryetta, Oklahoma testifies to a passion both he and his wife, Roberta, share. He also sees lots of travelers stop and take photos of his business along main street in this eastern Oklahoma town where he runs a detailing shop. He and his wife obviously are not alone in this attraction. Its scale and modestly elegant style partners in a quiet yet grand manner with small-town Henyretta’s Main Street; it does not spread on a new edge of town.
Jerry’s dedication turns to in-depth knowledge about his building’s past, not only its current profit-making. Called a “castle style” for its parapets above the canopy, Jerry tells us that the station served in the Sinclair chain for 10 years, when DX acquired the building. About 1967, DX went out of business at the site, removed from it all symbols of the company’s presence, and left it a shell gradually deteriorating. The new private owner occupied the site merely as a storage place for antique cars. Then, plans were afoot to tear it down but Jerry, after 20 years of owning a body shop, decided it was an excellent location to open a detailing business. Detailing let him work with cars but enabled a far more flexible work schedule than body work. Certainly, he was willing to work intensively on the restoration of the old station’s definitive features. Before hiring a contractor to complete the job, he himself began to repair its trademark feature of stuccoed walls and started to fill in the cracks beneath the deteriorated surface. His new business in the museum-like building opened seven years ago.
Davis’ detailing not only yields a good profit; he also repairs and rents houses. Retired but busier than ever is how he describes himself. In 2012, the Henryetta Chamber of Commerce gave him “The Main Street Vision Award” for his achievement at the converted gas station. Jerry has been acquiring historical petroleum artifacts in order to one day open a museum inside. He’s still got 57 cents per gallon posted on the pumps that were there when he moved in.
Return to top