Gas Stations and the White Patrol

At one time or another, just about everyone has used a bathroom in a one-stop, auto plaza or a stand-alone gas station. Some bathrooms have standards of cleanliness posted and others are so filthy that one would not go past the door. Seventy years ago, the average gas station bathroom was such a breeding ground for disease that it was used only by the desperate. What a stroke of PR genius it was when oil companies decided to ensure the traveling public where they could expect to find a clean bathroom. Texaco, and then Phillips 66, certified bathrooms at stations that met company expectations and then allowed those stations to advertise “clean bathrooms.” 

 

Women were driving during the 1930s and bathrooms became a selling point. Texaco was on the cutting edge and in 1938 established the White Patrol, inspectors who traveled the country in white coupes inspecting bathrooms at stations affiliated with them. A year later Phillips 66 hired nurses who went to “restroom cleaning school” before going out onto the highways to ensure that restrooms would be as clean as hospitals. Called Highway Hostesses, the nurses went out teaching owners. Texaco and Phillips were well aware that most women knew little about gas, but that they did know clean bathrooms, and clean bathrooms translated into money. Phillips 66 was proud of its inspectors who went beyond cleaning to provide help to motorists in difficult circumstances. Though World War ll ended the program, Texaco brought it back and was joined by Union Oil Co.  

 

It is not certain how many Kewaunee County gas stations became certified. Algoma Texaco dealer Leo Seiler had exceptionally high standards, though whether or not Leo’s Lake Street station was visited by the White Patrol is uncertain. Seiler’s bathrooms were always cleaned daily. The woman’s bathroom even had a little table with flowers on it. Seventy years ago, air fresheners, as we know them in 2014, did not exist. The mark of a germ free bathroom was Lysol, the smell of which erased fear of disease. Matt Strutz built the station, best remembered as Seilers, on Lake Street between Jefferson and Adams. When it opened on May 4, 1929, it was an impressive three-pump station. The above photo was taken before March 29, 1935 when owner Harold Toppe added a lunchroom to the south end of the building.  Toppe sold Cities Service products and by 1937 was advertising Pontiac automobiles.  

Leo Seiler, who had a long history in Algoma’s gas service, and a tire repair business in his early years, became the station’s operator in 1941, buying it in 1952. At that time he built an addition to house a grease rack and tire facility. For a time, Leo Seiler ran the station with his brother Frank who left to purchase the Rosewood Cheese Factory. Dave and Jerry Seiler joined their dad and Dave eventually followed his father as owner. Jerry owned Seiler Tire. Dave’s son Dan was the last Seiler to own the station, which was torn down to make room for Jim Graf’s Mobil Service gas pumps.   

Leo Seiler was a station owner in a list that included the well remembered Meyers, Mullens and Brauns - father and son owners - and Harvey Yahnke, Ray Perlewitz,  Joseph Muench, Henry Gericke, Louis Kohlbeck, Erwin Holdorf, Rein Krause, John Michaletz, Joe Glyzewski, Wayne Haucke, William LePage, Larry Schmeling, Earlin Grovogel, Ron Deprey, Harold Toppe, John Meteju and more.

Texaco's Fire Chief and Sky Chief grades of gas are apparent on the gas pumps in the photo immediately above, although most said, "Fill 'er up with regular." Drivers always pulled to the air hose on the left to have their tires checked and then filled without charge. The Coke cooler left of the door was popular, especially in summer. The amount of Coke sold is evident in the wooden soda cases piled at the left. According to the sign on the car, Kelly tires were for sale and one only needed to call 255 for service. It was a time when phone calls went through an operator.

Such stations have mostly faded into the past, however a trip through sparsely populated areas often provides a trip down memory lane. Some are on the Historic Register and some are hair salons or craft stores. Once Leon Meyers' Deep Rock, on the southwest corner of 4th and Steele, the station building is the site of an automotive museum, complete with the gas pumps outside. What could be better than that?

More about the gas stations of Algoma can be found in Volumes 1 and 2 of The Commercial History of Algoma, Wisconsin, c. 2006 and 2012, respectively. Photos are used with permission and information comes from a family member.