301 N Second Avenue

At some point, I’ll write in detail about Dodge City’s beautiful City Hall building south of the tracks, but this story focuses on what came later. The ornate brick building was situated in the middle of a block bordered by South Front (yes, there were two) and West Santa Fe Trail Streets as well as Second and Third Avenues.

In April of 1928, Lindas Lumber Company was in the process of purchasing the old City Hall lot but the City couldn’t find the deed, which had never been recorded. The plan was for City Hall to be demolished and replaced with a lumber shed on the west three-fifths of the property. The company had begun soliciting bids for demolition. Lindas then backed out of the deal after the City failed to produce the deed. The Santa Fe Railroad did a quit-claim deed and then J. M. Kirkpatrick ended up finding the original in June of 1928.

In April of 1929, James P McCollom purchased the east 75 feet of the block with an option for the next 50 feet. The lots were cleared immediately followed by construction of brick buildings with frontage along Second Avenue.

One of those buildings was a long, narrow service station at the northwest corner of Second and Trail with a large awning which extended out to the east. Merton Williams and his longtime friend, Charles B “Chick” Collison, opened the Williams & Collison station at 301 Second Avenue that Summer.

Chick Collison was murdered at his home on Sixth Avenue during a robbery on September 30, 1930. A few months later, Williams and Raymond Fredelake changed the name of the business to the Williams Service Company.

Sam Zygner photographed the station in preparation for the grand opening.

By the mid-1930s, B. L. Sullivan assumed operation of the business and renamed it Sullie’s Service Station. It then became a Socony-Vacuum Oil Service Station around 1938 or 1939. By 1941, the station was owned by Claud M Cave and Company, which was located in the building to the north at 307 Second Avenue.

The Cave business next door morphed into the Ross Cave Motor Company in the mid-1940s and the station became known as a Mobilgas One Stop Service. By 1950, the business was called Cave Tire and Service Company and it operated until April of 1952.

Earl and Lucy Steele owned Steele’s Service at Second and Trail for a year or two in the early 1950s.

Earl’s nephew, Ed Courbot, and his wife, Orma, later acquired the business and held a two-day grand opening of Courbot Service October 15-16, 1954.

The building appears to have been modernized sometime during the mid-1950s. By the time Hoover Cott took these accident photos in 1959, the mansard awnings had been removed and the brick exterior streamlined.

The station became vacant around 1969 and sat for a few years before being demolished around 1975. Since that time, the corner has been used by Sellers Motors and Lopp Motors mostly for parking and displaying automobiles.

This is how the site of Williams Service Co. looks today:

I love that the old foundation and building joints are still visible. Looking at this intersection now, it seems impossible that three of the four corners once had gas stations operating simultaneously. I even had to convince my mother it was true.

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311 W Spruce Street

James P McCollom of Carthage, Illinois bought the Santa Fe Trail Garage in December of 1911 and moved to Dodge City in February of 1912. Many of you already know this garage was located on the site of the First National Bank Building at Second Avenue and Spruce Street. McCollom later bought the house directly west of the garage at 309 W Spruce in addition to the neighboring lots all the way to Third Avenue.

The lots at the southeast corner of Third and Spruce sat empty for several years. In April of 1928, McCollom announced plans to construct a service station on that corner, which he would call Jimac Service Court, an awkward portmanteau derived from his two nicknames.

McCollom held a grand opening at the 25-car station on July 28, 1928.

The Heaston-Carter Service Company bought the Jimac station in early 1929.

This purchase increased the small Kansas chain’s station count to four.

The grand opening was held on April 20, 1929 with entertainment furnished by the Green Lantern Orchestra.

Mert Williams, who owned a couple other service stations in Dodge, purchased the business in January of 1931.

That arrangement was very brief and O. M. Balch began operating the Balch Service Station later that year.

The Balch station closed in late 1937 or early 1938. Goodyear Tire Company opened a store in the building in May of 1938. By 1941, “Blondy” Hamilton was operating the Boot Hill Service Station at Third and Spruce.

This was replaced by the Hardin Service Station in the mid-1940s.

By the early 1950s, the Lowery Tire and Service Company owned by Thomas and Beryl Lowery occupied the former Jimac station.

Now is a good time to mention the adjacent structure to the east. Ford County Building & Loan Association shared the epitome of mid-century building aesthetics with Dodge City Abstract & Investment Company for several years. It was possibly the bane of Tom Lowery’s existence.

The neighboring building entered into a grudge match with the Lowery station’s U. S. Royal Tires sign.

Bob and Mabel Lanphier bought the station in the late 1950s but kept the Lowery name.

Clarence and Sylvia Beye then bought the business around 1961 and operated it until late 1965 or early 1966. Beye Service was the last station to operate in this location.

The building sat vacant for a while before being remodeled by Floyd and Hazel Fisher, who operated Fisher Rental Service at Third and Spruce from around 1968 to 1970.

The Salvation Army’s Thrift Store was located in the building briefly in the early 1970s.

Ray and Ann Rodriguez held a grand opening event at their Rayann Imports store from June 2 through June 9, 1973. They started out with onyx, wood, straw, and ceramics from Mexico.

By late 1976 or early 1977, a pottery and jewelry studio called The Wheel and Torch briefly occupied the building.

However, the space was empty by April of 1977 when the Dodge City Racing Pigeon Association held a “giant rummage sale” in that spot.

After sitting vacant again for a couple years, the building was remodeled into office space around 1980. Attorney Douglas Myers had an office there for about five years. Various insurance and investment companies such as Kansas MONY Associates also occupied the building in the 1980s.

Around 1990, First National Bank expanded its Trust, Mortgage, and Consumer Loan departments into the combined structures of the old service station and savings and loan building. That arrangement continued with the string of successor banks after First National sold to Bank IV in 1994.

Bank of America sold the building to the Dodge City Area Chamber of Commerce and Dodge City – Ford County Development Corporation in 2001. The Dodge City Legend basketball team maintained an office there as well.

The Chamber and Eco-Devo offices later relocated the depot and the building was sold to Boot Hill Museum. A ribbon cutting was held at the new Boot Hill Resource Center in October of 2018.

This is how the former Jimac Service Court looks today:

It’s always interesting to walk in and around buildings with confusing arrays of angles and elevations. The modifications to these structures have diminished their historic value but if you look down at the concrete near the northwest corner, a little sliver still remains.

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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!