1928 Phillips 66 Service Station
Turkey, Hall County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The community of Turkey, settled in the 1890s, went through a period of rapid economic growth in the mid-1920s. The city benefited from its location on branches of two early automobile roads: the regional Ozark Trail and the coast-to-coast Bankhead Highway. Turkey was also served by the Fort Worth and Denver South Plains Railway, which connected developing agricultural areas of the Panhandle and South Plains. Turkey incorporated in 1926 and by 1927 had an estimated 600 residents. By 1929, the city had two banks and about 1,000 residents. Along with the arrival of the railroad, the availability of gasoline for automobiles and farm equipment contributed to Turkey’s impressive growth. The Phillips Petroleum Company, incorporated in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 1917, established its first refinery near Borger in 1927 and opened its first gasoline service station in Wichita, Kansas, later that same year. Phillips invested heavily in infrastructure in Turkey, with a railroad loading dock, bulk terminal buildings, fuel depot and several storage tanks. The culmination of their investment in Turkey was a new Phillips 66 service station which opened on Main Street on July 27, 1928, their first such facility in Texas. The station offered employment, served as a community gathering place, and provided essential automotive services for travelers and the bustling community. Early Phillips 66 service stations were typically located in residential areas, and their designs attempted to blend in with surrounding homes. The Turkey service station is a virtually intact example of the Tudor Revival style, with brick construction, a high-pitched roof, arched doorway, front gable, chimney with letter “P” and “Phillips 66” glass half-globes. It is an important site in the state’s history of settlement, transportation and architecture. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2019
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The small Panhandle town of Turkey boomed in the mid-1920s, sitting where two early auto highways — the Ozark Trail and the coast-to-coast Bankhead Highway — met the new railroad. As automobiles multiplied, the Phillips Petroleum Company poured investment into the town, culminating on July 27, 1928, in this Phillips 66 station, the company's first in Texas. Built in Tudor Revival style with brick, a steep roof, and "Phillips 66" glass globes, it was designed to blend into the residential street while fueling a community on the move.
Why it matters
The station captures the moment the automobile remade small-town America, when a gas station on Main Street was both an economic engine and a gathering place.
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Related events
- · Opening of Turkey's Phillips 66 station, July 27, 1928
Themes & tags
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