Texaco Service Station Then and Now

301-303 Military Avenue – Dodge City, Kansas

I know the title of this story seems oddly nonspecific considering how many Texaco stations Dodge City had at one time. However, this service station was originally owned and operated by The Texas Company. The white stucco mission-style building had separate bays for greasing and a car wash. A grand opening was held at the brand-new station on January 17, 1931.

The men shown here in 1931 may be manager Loren Wilks and attendants Paul Moore and Benjamin Otto.

Texaco leased the station to Bob Ogg in early 1934 and it was managed by H. Gordon McCollom. The business was briefly called Mac’s Certified Service.

By 1935, it was operated by Walt Neal.

Wholesale grocer John Pressney appears to have assumed ownership by the Summer of 1936. At that time, The Texas Company’s wholesale business was still located at Military and Avenue B.

By 1942, the station was operated by Josh Owens. World War II Veterans Ernest Brockhausen and Quincy Glotta bought the business in January of 1946 and called it B and G Texaco Service.

Brockhausen began operating as Ernie’s Texaco Service around January of 1949. The station was listed for sale in January of 1951 due to health reasons but appears to have continued operating as Ernie’s until at least December of that year.

Other names in the 1950s included Bill’s Texaco Service and Steele’s Texaco Service. By 1957, the building was vacant and it sat for a few years before being converted into commercial space for businesses such as Kansas Abstract and Investment Co. in the mid-1960s.

Maxine Salmans was a very successful representative for the cosmetics company Fashion Two Twenty. Her studio occupied the building for almost all of the 1970s.

The property was listed for sale in December of 1979.

A new building with frontage on Avenue B was completed around 1981 and was occupied by Fast Foods of Dodge City. This building was expanded and housed tenants such as Dodge Country Insurance, Firm One Securities, Stickney Realty, and Frigon Law Firm. Lucky Liquor moved to the space on the corner around 2000.

This is how the former site of the Texaco Service Station looks today:

I’ve always loved mission-style architecture with arched doors and windows. This replacement aesthetic is most definitely not that. On the bright side, some of the concrete curbing looks original. So we’ve got that going for us, which is nice.

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