Fansler’s Service Then and Now

100 E Chestnut St/Wyatt Earp Blvd

In Dodge City’s early days, the area directly north of the Santa Fe Depot on the east side of what is now Central Avenue, was dedicated to what one might consider back of house operations. There were livery stables, blacksmith shops, saloons, and rooming houses. Wood frame buildings came and went. It wasn’t until after 1905 that a more permanent operation, Andy Falkner’s Palace Livery, occupied the corner of what would become 100 E Chestnut Street.

The livery stable changed hands a couple times and by 1911, it had been expanded and improved with iron cladding and a concrete floor. W. T. Hale and his son, Will, announced they had purchased the property in December of 1912 with plans to build a modern 50 x 90-foot automobile garage. This concrete building with buff colored stucco would have the Hales’ Ford showroom on the main floor with offices above.

Demolition of the old livery barn began on January 20, 1913 and the new garage was ready for occupancy that May.

Carl Fay and Thomas Traynor leased the garage in September of 1917 and operated it as the City Garage & Machine Shop. A car elevator allowed them to locate a machine shop on the second floor. The Hales retained office space upstairs as well as the Pullman Tires sales agency.

Traynor sold his interest in the garage to Chester Royse in September of 1918. T. E. Young joined Fay as a partner around 1922 and then Fay operated the business on his own for a couple of years.

Different businesses such as transportation and auto painting companies leased space on the second floor.

C. E. Williams joined Fay at the garage in 1925 and they bought the Superior Garage at Central and Military in December of that year. The slightly renamed Dodge City Garage was then operated by Frank Botkin, who also had a taxi and car rental business in the building.

Albert and Herman Schraeder took over the garage in January of 1928 and began operating 24 hours a day. They also had a Chevrolet rental car service. Leroy Bretz operated the garage during the 1930s. J. G. English bought the building and in 1936 had it completely remodeled. The southwest corner was cut out to create the drive-through English Service Station.

Harold Fansler of Garden City bought the English station in August of 1938.

His brother, Steve, moved with his family to Dodge City to remodel and operate the new Fansler’s Service.

On February 7, 1942, a fire broke out in a room located at the south end of the second floor where tires were retread.

Although the building sustained little damage, the significant tire loss was a huge issue due to wartime rubber shortages.

Steve Fansler died in 1947 but the service station retained the Fansler name for a few years after it was purchased by Ralph McCoy.

The business operated for a couple years as McCoy Service and Tire Co. followed by Richard Lempka’s L & L Super Service.

After the building sat vacant for about a year, Jerry Felts and Pearl Shepherd opened their Midtown Garage in April of 1956.

Stauth Brothers Oil Company obtained a permit to demolish the Hale Building in the Spring of 1959. The old concrete garage was replaced with a modern Skelly station which was set back from the street with a large parking area.

This 24-hour service station was leased to Bill Lembright.

Lembright’s Skelly Service held its grand opening December 19, 1959.

Bill Lembright and Lembright Oil Company bought out Stauth Brothers in 1961. At that time, Larry Cunningham managed the station at Central and Wyatt Earp.

Around 1964, the station became Uptown Skelly Service operated by Lloyd P Loughridge. Roy Piper managed it from about 1966 to 1967. Former manager Larry Cunningham operated the station as Cunningham’s Skelly Service around 1968 and it was vacant by 1970. Around that time, the building was moved to the northwest corner of Wyatt Earp Boulevard and 113 Road where Flying J is today. Once the parcel was cleared, it was paved and used as a City parking lot.

This is how the former site of Fansler’s Service looks today:

I won’t close with the standard complaint about how much we love parking lots in Dodge City. I like free parking. And this lot has a great view of the depot. You can always count on empty spaces when there’s something big happening at Boot Hill. It’s wonderful.

If you like what you see, be sure to subscribe (way at the bottom of the post on mobile devices) to receive an email each time a new post is published and share on social media. You can also support my work by donating below. This content is 100% funded by history fanatics such as yourself. Thanks for reading!