Former Route 66 Gas and Auto Repair Station in IL

Standard Oil Gasoline Station, Odell Illinois

Date added: August 30, 2024

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The Standard Oil Gasoline Station was constructed in 1932 to provide oil, gasoline, and vehicle repair services to motorists along Route 66 as well as to the citizens of the Odell area.

The village of Odell is located in northeastern Livingston County, between Pontiac, to the south and Dwight, to the north. The Odell area was rapidly settled during the construction of the Chicago & Alton Railroad through Livingston County in 1854. The land where Odell is located was surveyed and platted on August 10^th, 1856 by James C. Spencer and Henry A. Gardner. Spencer soon sold his half of the lands to William H. Odell, who was honored with the name of the town. Stores, warehouses, boarding houses, and hotels were soon erected in the newly platted village. The first railroad car load of grain was shipped in 1855 and in 1861 L. E. Kent erected the first elevator. The village of Odell's government was organized on February 8^th, 1867. Odell soon became an agricultural shipping town. In 1897 shipments on the Chicago & Alton Railroad from Odell included 1,575 car loads of grain and thirty car loads of livestock. Four trains made daily stops in Odell by the 1900s. In 1908 Odell's elevators were handling nearly two million bushels of grain per year.

In 1907 the Public Service Company opened an interurban railroad that served Pontiac to Dwight, including Odell. The interurban became part of the Bloomington, Peoria, & Joliet Interurban system. The interurban continued operations in Odell until 1924.

Several types of gas stations could be found along Route 66 in Illinois. These stations were classified by types including the curbside, the shed, the house, the house with canopy, the house with bay, and the oblong box.

The Standard Oil Gasoline Station style is a house with a canopy and added bays. The original building is modeled after a design developed in 1916 by Standard Oil of Ohio which is commonly known as a house with canopy or domestic style gas station. As competition between gasoline stations increased and oil companies sought to minimize community opposition to the crudeness often associated with early gasoline distribution buildings, image became a selling point. Soon oil companies hired architects to design stations that would look like a small house and blend into the neighborhood. These domestic stations often had low-pitched roofs and were often based on traditional revival styles. Most house-type gasoline stations included a small office, storage areas, and public restrooms.

The addition of a canopy which was often integrated into the roof of the house type produced another distinctive type of gasoline station, the house with canopy type. The canopy provided shelter for service attendants and customers from the inclement weather and often attracted customers who wished to avoid the inclement weather while getting their vehicles serviced. The Standard Oil Gasoline Station is a good example of a house with canopy type with its low-pitched roof, canopy, and domestic scale seen in its banks of double-hung windows and the use of asphalt shingles on the exterior walls.

The addition of service bays to existing stations was common in the 1920s and 1930s according to John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle in The Gas Station in America. The authors also state that before 1935 these additions usually adopted the architecture of the original structure. The addition of service bays allowed stations to become "one-stop" places for automotive service. In addition to washing and lubrication, engine, brake, muffler, and other repair services were usually available as well as the distribution of gasoline to motorists. The addition of the service bays to the Standard Oil Gasoline Station created a house with bay type of gasoline station.

It is one of the few remaining stations on Route 66 in Illinois that retains the location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association with gas stations along Route 66 during its heyday.

On February 10^th, 1932 Patrick O'Donnell purchased from Francis J. and Grace E. Craven a small 60' by 200' plot of land that had been off from a 160 acre section located on the southwest side of Odell, in Livingston County, Illinois. This larger acreage was first recorded in 1869. Mr. O'Donnell, soon after the purchase date, began construction of the Standard Oil Gasoline Station. In the beginning this station sold Standard Oil Company gasoline. Over the years Patrick O'Donnell leased the property to several different managers who dealt with various oil companies. The station at times sold Standard, Philips 66, and Sinclair products. In the late 1930s and prior to 1940, O'Donnell, a contractor, added the service bay area to the north side of the building, thus adding mechanical and body repair services that were greatly needed along Route 66 at the time.

The Standard Station was but one of ten stations that had existed on the short stretch of Route 66 that runs through Odell. The proprietors of this station needed to offer more services than just oil products in order to compete so soon after the construction of the station, the repair bay area was added before 1940. Before the advent of the four-lane bypass, all transportation on Route 66, whether commercial or recreational, had to travel through Odell, but there was still competition for customers. The more services you offered, the more customers you would attract.

Route 66 made it possible for travelers to go from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California on one numerically marked federal highway. The gas station was the lifeline for these travelers, and made it possible for them to reach their destination.

The station also served the village of Odell and the surrounding countryside. More than just a gas station, it became a meeting place for the local people, a place to linger over a cold soda and catch up on all the news of friends and neighbors.

Originally, U. S. Route 66 followed West Street through Odell, west of the Chicago & Alton Railroad Tracks. In 1943 construction began on a four-lane bypass west of Route 66 around Odell. The bypass was built approximately 600 feet west of the Standard Oil Gasoline Station and began approximately one-half mile south of the station. Work also began in 1943 in adding two additional lanes, 24 feet wide, alongside the old 18' wide Route 66, north and south of the Odell bypass. This made Route 66 a four-lane road in the area. In 1955, the old 18' wide roadway was removed and a new roadway was built north and south of Odell.

Later, a bar and restaurant were built a few yards north of the station. The building later became a house and was destroyed by fire a few years ago. A sidewalk leading from the gas station to the restaurant still remains. In the mid-1930s a softball field was built by the Works Progress Administration to the west of the station. The softball field was equipped with lights and an access road ran from the station to the ball field. Both the softball field and the road are now gone.

Robert Close leased this station in 1952 from Patrick O'Donnell. He continued dealing with the Sinclair Oil Company, the previous proprietor. In 1957, with the death of Patrick O'Donnell, Robert Close bought the property at auction for the sum of $1,550. Mr. Close continued to operate it as a Sinclair gas station until 1967 at which time he discontinued the sale of gasoline and other products. He then operated it as an auto repair shop until his retirement in the mid-1980s.

The only other historic gasoline station left in Odell is Stoney's Marathon Service Station at 102 West Avenue. The concrete block station was built in the early 1950s and is classified as an oblong box type. The station has service bays and an office area.

Other gas stations in Odell in 1954 included Fogarty's Mobil Gas Station and Restaurant, which was an oblong box type (demolished). Al's Service Station sold Standard Oil products and was an oblong box type (demolished). Kelso's Mobil Service Station was also an oblong box type (demolished). The Holdridge Cafe and Standard Service Station was located one mile south of Odell on Route 66. The frame building housed both the restaurant and service station. It could not be classified as a gas station type and had no architectural style (demolished).

Building Description

On February 10^th, 1932 Patrick O'Donnell purchased from Francis J. and Grace E. Craven a small 60' by 200' plot of land that had been partitioned from a 160-acre section located on the southwest side of Odell, in Livingston County, Illinois. This larger acreage was first recorded in 1869. Mr. O'Donnell, soon after the purchase date, began construction on a gas station. This gas station is today known as the Standard Oil Gasoline Station on old Route 66 in Odell, Illinois.

In the beginning, this station sold Standard Oil Company gasoline. Over the years Patrick O'Donnell leased the property to several different managers who dealt with various oil companies. The station at times sold Standard, Philips 66, and Sinclair products. In the late 1930s and before 1940, O'Donnell, a contractor, added the service bay area to the north side of the building, thus adding mechanical and body repair services that were greatly needed along Route 66 at the time.

The original building is modeled after a design developed in 1916 by Standard Oil of Ohio which is commonly known as a house with canopy or domestic style gas station This style of gas station was created to give travelers a comfortable feeling they could associate with home. It was thought that this association would create an atmosphere of trust in the commercial and recreational travelers of the day.

The Standard Oil Gasoline Station's office area is 17'6" long and 15' 6" wide. This area includes the office, bathroom, and storage/kitchen space. The bathroom and storage/kitchen space both measure 4'6" by 5'. The rest of the area was used for the office. The bay area, which was added prior to 1940, measures 28' long and 28' wide. This building is located on the west side of the intersection of South West Street (old Route 66) and Deer Street on the southwest side of Odell, in Livingston County, Illinois. Odell is approximately 45 miles northeast of Bloomington, Illinois.

The one-story frame building has a concrete foundation. There is no basement to the building. The exterior walls of the original building are covered with asphalt shingles while the exterior walls of the service bays is covered with vertical wood siding. The gabled roof of the original building is covered with asphalt shingles while the roof of the service bays is covered with metal. The gabled roof of the original building flares out near the eave line. The gabled roof also covers the canopy of the station. Faint remains of the words "Standard Oil Co." are located on both sides of the gables. The canopy is supported by two wood piers that are covered with asphalt shingles. The service bay roof forms a cross gable to the main roof. The main roof's ridge line runs east to west while the service bay's ridge line runs north to south.

The east (front) elevation has the original station building to the south with the service bays to the north. Beginning towards the south of the building is a bank of four, one-over-one wood windows. To their north is a wood and glass door. North of the gas station office is the service bays. There are two wood folding garage doors. The south garage doors have three square shaped windows, one in each fold of the door. The top of the windows are divided into two panes, the bottom being one continuous pane. The north garage doors are rectangular, being longer than they are wide. The bottom panels of the doors have a cross design with panels. The rectangular shaped windows in the doors have four small panes above a larger pane. The office has a gable roof; the two sides facing north and south. The roof extends to the east and becomes a canopy which extends 10', with a 2' overhang past the pump area. The canopy pillars are squared and are each set on a one-foot thick slab of concrete. This concrete extends one foot to the inside of each pillar and is squared off. To the outside of each pillar it extends 3'6" and is rounded to a point at the end. Approximately 5" from the outer wall of the office area, on the underside of the canopy, there are two light fixtures, one north and one south. On the underside of the 2' overhang past the pump area there are six light fixtures, three on the south and three on the north.

The bay area has a gable roof. There is a one-foot overhang on the east elevation with four light fixtures, two over the folding doors on the south and two over the folding doors on the north.

The north (side) elevation shows only the bay area. There is a pair of one-over-one windows to the east, and a one-over-one window placed slightly higher to the west. These are the only openings on the north elevation.

The west (rear) elevation of the bay area has a small one-over-one window. The south elevation of the bay area extends to the west 12'6" of the office section. A small nine-pane window is located along this south wall. The west (rear) elevation of the office area has two windows, one on the bathroom area, and the other on the kitchen/storage area.

The south (side) elevation has a wood door to the west and a pair of one-over-one windows to the east.

Interior

Starting from the front entryway on the east elevation, 10'6" from this point is the bathroom area on the northwest corner of the office, with the kitchen/storage area adjacent to it. Both of these rooms are 5' long running east and west and 4'6" wide running north and south. The remaining space is the office area. This is an "L" shaped area. On the north interior wall is a wood door leading to the connected bay area. The bay area runs 28' north and south, and 28' east and west. It is a continuous area with shelving along the north, west, and south interior walls.

The office area has a wood floor, walls, and ceiling. The bay area has a cement foundation, wood walls and two three-panel folding doors on the east. The interior south wall is covered with asphalt shingles. This is where the bay area is joined to the original office area. This south interior bay wall was once the north exterior office wall.

While the station is now in a state of disrepair, it contains all of the original materials.