Area less than one acre NRHP Reference # 04000420 Added to NRHP 6 May 2004 | Built 1926 Opened 1926 | |
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Architectural style House and Canopy Gas Station MPS Historic and Architectural Resources of Route 66 Through Illinois Similar Ariston Cafe, Ambler's Texaco Gas Station, Sprague's Super Service, Henrys Rabbit Ranch, Standard Oil Gasoline | ||
The Soulsby Service Station is a historic service station in Mount Olive, Illinois. The station is located along historic U.S. Route 66 and is the oldest usable service station on the highway in Illinois. It serves as an example of the house and canopy gas station design.
Henry Soulsby built the station in 1926 after an injury forced him to leave the mining industry and operated it along with his children Russell and Ola Soulsby. His son Russell, a World War II naval communications technician, operated a radio and TV repair business out of the station as Interstate 55 diverted highway traffic away from the site in the late 1950s.
The station stopped pumping gas in 1991 and closed in 1993; plans currently exist to reopen it as a museum.
References
Soulsby Service Station Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA