Maser Pontiac-Cadillac Then and Now

404 S Second Avenue

Like many towns, Dodge City hasn’t always been consistent with street names. Portions of Second Avenue were alternatively called Bridge Street for several decades. The stretch between the Arkansas River and the Rock Island tracks along Sycamore Street experienced a building boom around 1930.

In April of that year, Martin Stohr sold a couple lots to Lester F Fowler who established Fowler Machine Shop at what was then 406 Bridge Street. At that time, this shop was the only commercial structure on the block.

The property was purchased by Logan R Tyson of General Machine Shop in the Spring of 1935. It’s worth noting that Winnie Rosebrook was Tyson’s welding foreman.

In February of 1946, Tyson announced he would be building a Kaiser-Frazer dealership on the north side of his machine shop, which would also be enlarged. The combined structures were painted white with modern 1940s streamlined styling. Corners were rounded with glass blocks and neon lighting.

Both of his sons, James and Robert, had returned from World War II and were involved in the business which held a grand opening on October 25, 1946.

This photo was taken from the Rock Island tracks looking north on January 4, 1949.

In November of 1949, Tyson took out a permit to remodel a wood frame garage a few blocks south. Merritt Owens and Clarence Maser announced they would relocate Owens-Maser Motor Co. to the old Tyson dealership that December.

In January of 1954, Maser announced he had bought Owens’ interest in the business and the dealership became known as Maser Pontiac-Cadillac Co.

Around that time, the company expanded to include a used car lot across South Second, just south of Dillon’s. That lot is shown here during the flood in June of 1965.

Martin Stohr’s old house which had stood at the southeast corner of Poplar Street and South Second was removed in 1973 to expand the car lot.

In October of 1978, Don and Greg Goff announced Goff Motor Company had bought the Maser dealership. This was back when Jeeps were still Jeeps.

Plans were being made to completely remodel the building at that time.

The father and son duo operated the dealership together until Don’s retirement around 1995. A special meeting was held in December of 1998 to approve merging Goff Motors with their neighbor to the north, George Nielsen Motor Company. While the two dealerships advertised jointly in the interim, the merger became official with the new entity, G & G, Inc., in March of 1999.

Pat George exited the business around 2004 and then John and Traci Wentling were partners with Greg and Linda Goff until about 2015. The Wentlings wound down the G & G Car and Truck Supercenter around 2023. Hyundai of Dodge City currently occupies the property.

This is how the former Maser Pontiac-Cadillac dealership looks today:

I’m not the biggest fan of Streamline Moderne architecture but it beats covered up windows and metal mansards. That is all.

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