Freitag's Pure Oil Service Station
About this property
Freitag's Pure Oil Service Station is an automobile service station styled like an English cottage and built in Monroe, Wisconsin in 1935 by the Pure Oil Company. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Many early gas stations were rough, simple shacks along the road. The Pure Oil Company decided to defy that stereotype with its widespread brand. In the 1920s, their chief engineer Carl August Peterson designed a steep-roofed, brick-walled station in a Tudor Revival style. It had tall chimneys on each end, flower boxes and fancy ironwork, suggesting a picturesque English cottage. The structure featured white brick on the lower half of the building topped by gloss blue Ludowici tile on the roof to represent the company's colors. Pure Oil built hundreds of cottage-style stations like this across the U.S. from 1927 through the 1930s. The standard look suggested predictable quality to the passing motorist, prefiguring today's chain restaurants. The "cottage" styling allowed the station to blend in - even into residential neighborhoods. Freitag's service station in Monroe is one of these cottage-style stations. Along with the standard office section it has a "lubridome" section, where cars were serviced. This station was built by C. W. (Slim) Freitag, a big band trombonist and pilot. He built it for his father to operate. The original cost for the building and the land was $16,000. After Pure Oil, by then owned by the Union Oil Company of California, merged with Union 76, the service station became affiliated with that brand. Media related to Freitag's Pure Oil Service Station at Wikimedia Commons
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Freitag's Pure Oil Service Station listed on the National Register?
Freitag's Pure Oil Service Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 15, 1980.
What type of historic resource is Freitag's Pure Oil Service Station?
Freitag's Pure Oil Service Station is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Freitag's Pure Oil Service Station?
The period of significance for Freitag's Pure Oil Service Station is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Freitag's Pure Oil Service Station?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Freitag's Pure Oil Service Station will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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