Throwback Thursday by Matson Insurance: Post-War Automobile Business in Brookville

Matson Insurance has partnered with Jefferson County History Center to offer exploreJeffersonpa.com readers a look into Jefferson County’s past. Today, the Post-War Automobile Business in Brookville is highlighted.

[Pictured above: Gould Ford on South White Street was a familiar site for many years. (JCHS Collection)]

Submitted by Carole Briggs:

THE POST-WAR AUTOMOBILE BUSINESS

At the end of World War II, five automobile dealers in town were selling Chevrolets, Chryslers, Dodges, Fords, Packards, and Plymouths.

Auto sales boomed.

Bill Gould worked for Leathers, then built his own agency in 1953 to sell Fords. Atwood Buick opened on Main Street, Haskell’s Studebaker opened on White Street, and John Ludwig began selling Pontiacs, Cadillacs, and Oldsmobiles. Shannon & Shaffer sold Buicks and other cars. Miller & Williamson sold Chryslers and Plymouths.

Then, the completion of Interstate 80 in the 1960s made it easy to travel to DuBois, Clarion, and other places to look for new automobiles. Five dealerships continued into the 1990s, then gradually closed. Today, Brookville #1 continues down by the rivers, and Kelly Chrysler Jeep Dodge is located west of town, but it’s not unusual to recognize license plates framed with the logos of dealerships throughout western Pennsylvania.

Once horses needed feeding and care. So did those new-fangled automobiles. Leathers both sold and serviced automobiles and had a pump on the sidewalk in front of his building. In 1929, Walter J. Sandt built a Pennzoil service station where attendants changed tires, pumped gas, washed windshields, and provided all the services needed to keep cars running. An example of roadside architecture, DuBois architect Russ Howard designed the stucco-on-tile building and master builder John Carr built it. Mrs. Sandt, who thought the tower “too plain,” suggested the perched china doves. Originally there were three. Today one remains.

Prior to the opening of I-80, gasoline was available in town from “The Autotorium” (the name for Sandt’s Pennzoil service station), Brewster’s, Carberry’s, Carnes, Commons, Donnor & Oakes, Hill Top, Kleins, McQuown, Robb’s, and Schnepp’s. Then Boron, Exxon, and Arco opened on the “Strip,” and the listing in local directories for “gasoline filling stations” evolved into “service stations” and “convenience stores.” Now, we find places like Sheetz, Truckstops of America, and Flying J that sell gasoline, groceries, and “meals on the go.” Operated by national chains, the “mom & pop” filling stations of the past are almost gone.

Today, Hill Top remains as an independent owner service station, one of three owned and operated by Jim Brown. DeMotte’s on the southwest corner of E. Main and Taylor is gone, making way for the new bridge, and Mike Guth opened a gas station across the street in conjunction with his supermarket, Mike’s Comet.

Copyright@Jefferson County Historical Society, Inc.

Throwback Thursday is brought to you by Matson Insurance in Brookville.

Submitted by the Jefferson County History Center.