I like to talk about Grandpa Adrian Zuidweg’s Sunoco gas station because it seemed a little magical when I was a kid. Here is how it looked 20 years before my time–in 1939:
I don’t know who lived in the house on each side in 1939, but I did 20 years later. Maybe it was the same people. The man who lived in the house on the left of the photo (to the right of the station) was Willie Dunn. When I was newly married and he was moving, he let me have an antique oak library desk from the house. I’m looking at it right now. Simple Queen Anne legs and two drawers without pulls.
Here’s a photo I’ve posted before–the view is different, so here you can see a sampling of the houses across the street on Balch Street. Any ideas on the date of this photo? The pump looks different than the ones in the 1939 photo, and then there is the car to help. I bet Uncle Don would know!
Grandpa by the pump at his Sunoco station
The pumps in the first photo have globes on the top of them. Does anybody know if the globes lit up like lighted signs? I found a photo of a vintage pump that looks like that type:
There is something to be said for such a fancy model, but it was probably more expensive to build and to maintain. In case you’re wondering, yes, people collect old gas station memorabilia–anything with a brand name and a logo!
Here is what Grandpa’s gas station looks like today. Or shall I say the site of the station. You see that white house? You can see all the way to that house because Willie Dunn’s house is gone.
When you were a kid, did you enjoy visiting or playing at or working at a small business in your family?
The Family Kalamazoo 
I didn’t have the small business experience but I do have fond memories of having the freedom to go down the street to the little luncheonette to order egg creams. The shop closed when I was about 10 but there were a few other stores with candy and nick-knacks we’d save up to buy as Christmas gifts. The best part was being completely left alone by the adults in our lives for hours on end. 🙂
Adrienne, many kids have a treasured connection with one or more small business, I think. It’s a portal to the “real world” that feels safe and yet exciting. I have still never had an egg cream, to my knowledge . . . .
Here’s an old post where I wrote about grandpa’s father. At the site of the gas station there had been an ice cream/candy shop that he owned and a pic of Grandpa’s dad behind the counter–mid-post. https://thefamilykalamazoo.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/my-great-grandfather-reinvented-himself-as-a-business-owner-in-the-u-s/
These pictures for me are living genealogy. To know a birth marriage and death date is enough for some but knowing how their home looked establishes a connection to them.
Well put–yes! Living genealogy. I too am not interesting in knowing just “dates,” but love to imagine so much more about the past.
Great post, Luanne! I completely agree about the mysterious and unexplainable feelings we got as children being allowed for brief times into the adult world. Seeing this gas station kinda breaks my heart for the simplicity with which we used to live and conduct business in small towns. The two brothers who owned the gas station (I think it was Sinclair) also operated the school bus runs, so their employees (Fred was ours driver) would make the morning and afternoon bus runs and repair cars ir pump gas and wash windshields the rest of the day. It was always a kick to have Fred pump our gas after we’d already seen him on the bus.
What a great memory of Fred, Sammy! Yes, I know what you mean about how heart-breaking it is how complex living has gotten. My grandmother used to make Grandpa’s lunch every day and walk it down the block to him at the station! It seems so idyllic now.
It sure does. They faced life together in ways that have mostly disappeared. Glad you are keeper of memories.
I can’t imagine not doing it, Sammy!
Wonderful post evoking those more simple times—for us as kids and for our society. As for dating the photo—I’d say 1940s based on the car. By the 1950s cars were a bit more modern looking. At least that’s my memory—I didn’t research it. And I am not a car expert!
I thought the car seemed like 40s, too. The world sure seemed promising when we were kids and thought the adults knew what was what ;).
Was the station on the corner of Balch and Burdick? My Grandfather, Edwin C Reeves lived in the big brick house on the north-west corner of Balch and Burdick in the 60’s, before that he lived on Austin Lake. He was the son of Francis Flipes who owned the flower shop a block north on Burdick St. (I think you mentioned her on the blog before)
Joel, yes, Burdick and Balch. Are you talking about this house? https://thefamilykalamazoo.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/the-richard-dekorn-house/ it was built by Richard DeKorn, my great great grandfather. My grandfather lived in it when he was young.
Yes that is the house
So it stayed in the family for some time!
Hi Luanne. I think the car definitely dates from the 1940s, though whether the photo does too, I’m not so sure. I don’t know how often people updated their cars in the US, but they are a pretty big-ticket purchase, and certainly in NZ people hung on to cars for a long time, so you would see 1940s and 1950s cars still driving around in the 1970s (I owned a 1955 Morris Minor at one stage in the 1980s)! We had no small businesses in the family, but our neighbour had a bread and milk delivery business and I do remember going out with him on the rounds a couple of times. He delivered the most delicious soft white rolls, and being allowed to eat one of those while sitting in his van — heaven!
That sounds like great fun. I can almost taste one! Those special times were always the little blips in our routines! I agree about the car though in Michigan they never last as long as your Morris Minor! They rust out first!
That’s exactly it! Blips in the routine. Love the way you’ve phrased that.
I was trying so hard to describe that feeling that was just at the edge of my mind LOL. I’m glad it worked!
Great photos and memories.
Old photos are such a boost to the memory, too!
First I want to say thank you so much for liking my first post on my blog, I am so glad it led me to discover yours! I am also in the Kalamazoo area and would love to someday talk to you about one of the everyday heirlooms in your family. We seem to have parallel interests.
I grew up helping my grandparents with their t-shirt and other crafty type things business. They sold at fairs and festivals in the area. It was wonderful to spend so much time with them. Not to mention how helpful the business, math, and people skills are in my day to day life. I wasn’t allowed to travel and work with them until I could make change. My grandpa worked and worked and worked with me. I spent my first summer working with them when I was 6.
That’s so exciting that you’re in the Kalamazoo area! I no longer live there and am in Phoenix, but my family lives there. I love “everyday heirlooms.” What a great idea for a blog. Feel free to email me at luannecastle[at]gmail.com. I would love to “chat.”
Thank you for the kind words! Phoenix is such a neat place. My son and I spent 6 months in Sun City caring for my aunt when she was battling cancer. I will be in touch!
That car is from sometime in the 30s, as no cars were manufactured from January 1942 to about a year after the end of WWII.
Kids today lead such sheltered lives. I was about 8 or 9 when my mom registered me for swim lessons at the Y, which was located in downtown Baltimore. She took me down the first time – walked over to the next street to catch the bus, rode into the city, and then after lessons, I’d walk two blocks to catch the bus back home. After that first “show me”, I was on my own. The fare was less than a dime each way.
I suppose today she’d be arrested for child neglect or something.
I just saw this and that I hadn’t responded! I’m so sorry! You are right about sheltered. We left the house in the morning and came back at dinner time, sometimes sunset. Then we might go out in the dark after dinner.
Thanks for the info about the car!
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