New book chronicles Central Pennsylvania gas stations

The Spark

When motorists stop to buy gasoline for their vehicles, it’s almost always at a business that doubles as a convenience store, whose main sales priority is often their food menus. And the driver is almost always pumping their own gas.

It didn’t used to be that way. Service stations were just that – the place to go to have an attendant pump gas, check the oil in a car, clean the windshield and doubled as the garage where a mechanic repaired or maintained cars.

A new book remembers a time when gas stations were often the center of activity in a town and the attendants became familiar and friends.

The Lost Service Stations of Central Pennsylvania is co-authored by Jimmy Rosen, who was with us on The Spark Monday, who talked about the nostalgia for gas stations,"back in the early days of full service, it was the focal point of neighborhoods. You, you you knew your mechanic, you knew your local service station, you trusted them, and you hung out there. Guys hung out there with their cars. They fixed their cars. And then a lot of times, girls hung out there to see the guys with their cars. And it was just a time mom and pop places like a lot of things, they've all but disappeared. And it's rare to find an independent, fueling station to service station at all."

Published as by Arcadia Publishing as part of their images of America series, the book is full of photographs of old service stations in Central Pennsylvania.

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