The Station That Changed Its Colors.
A 1921 roadside gas station from Strausstown, Berks County, with a mystery painted right into its trim.
Branding Built Into the Building
Sun Oil Company began in 1886 in Ohio, as a branch of The Peoples Natural Gas Company of Pittsburgh. By 1890, Sun Oil of Ohio was the state's leading supplier of crude oil. The company made its mark in Pennsylvania in 1916, when it founded Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, and it opened its first service station in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, in 1920. Now headquartered in Pennsylvania, Sunoco is still a major company nationwide.
In those early decades, oil companies cared a great deal about branding. Each one gave its stations a distinctive look so drivers could spot them from the road, and Sun Oil was no exception. Its stations followed a very strict building design.
This Station's Story
The station on display was built by the Arthur B. Shepard Corporation and operated in Strausstown, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Look closely and you'll notice it doesn't quite match a typical 1920s Sunoco station.
It's missing the "eyebrow," the bump in the roofline above the door, and it lacks the siding a typical Sunoco station had. It has two roof peaks at the top corners, which typical Sunoco stations didn't have. The biggest clue is the blue and yellow checkerboard trim. On a standard Sunoco station, that pattern was done on a piece of metal trim attached to the outside of the building. Photos from the 1950s show that on this station, the checkerboard was painted directly onto the windowsills and the building, along with crown molding across the tops of the windows and doors. There was no metal trim at all.
So why is it so different? Most likely, the station didn't start out as a Sunoco station. At some point the owner decided to switch brands. Instead of putting up a whole new building, which would have been expensive and wasteful, he repainted it to match the new franchise.
No one knows exactly when the station went out of business. A collector later bought it, restored it, and displayed it in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania. The Museum acquired it in September 2012.
The station as it looked in the 1950s in Strausstown, while it was still pumping gas.
The station as it looked when the Museum acquired it in September 2012.
A typical 1920s Sunoco station. Compare the roofline and the trim to ours.
Sun Oil's first service station, built in 1920 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
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