Service Station A La 1920s

What was perhaps Ridgefield’s first full-service gasoline station was located at 31 Danbury Road where Ridgefield Mobil is today.

These photos from the 1920s show the Socony station when it was owned by John M. Moser, whose house was at 55 Danbury Road, still standing across from where Dunkin Donuts is today. That’s probably Moser in the doorway of the garage office, with a cigar in his mouth.

The picture of the office has a couple of interesting features: A sign in the window at the left says “Cigarettes and Cigars” are for sale and another sign just to the left of the building reports,  “Rest Rooms Inside.” It’s hard to imagine how restrooms could fit into that little (albeit elegant) shack. 

One entertaining feature of the office picture: If you look at the extreme right, you will see an arm and a hand, and just a tiny bit of the face of a man who was obviously waving at the camera, but didn’t quite fit into the picture.

The second photo focuses on the service area, with the office at the very left edge of the

image. Back in the 1920s, automobiles were not serviced in indoor bays but outdoors, over pits. The chains, pipe-fencing and boards shown here were designed to keep people from accidentally falling into the pit.

In that same picture, you’ll notice at the left a wooden case of what look like quart bottles of soda or beer. That was Mobiloil Arctic motor oil, a product then packaged in bottles instead of cans.  

A hardly visible sign on the pump indicates that fuel was 20 cents a gallon back then.

Socony (Standard Oil Company of New York) eventually became today’s Mobil, so Ridgefield Mobil can make the rare claim of selling the same company’s gasoline in the same location for nearly a century. 

Other product brands seen on signs here like Fisk Tires, United States Tires, and Weed Chains have long gone.

In 1931, Moser sold the operation  to Warner Keeler, Charles Elliott and Francis Brown, whose initials formed the new business’s name, KEB. They built a larger building on the site.

Keeler had worked for Moser. He left KEB in 1945. Brown died in 1955, leaving Charlie Elliott the sole owner of KEB until 1971 when he sold the station (but continued to operate his refuse-collection business). From 1971 on, it’s been Ridgefield Mobil.

Cheap Gas?

This odd picture was in a group of shots of Branchville, taken in 1962 on the occasion of the Ridgefield Saving Bank’s opening a branch office on Route 7, some of which   appeared in recent posts.

This view show a sign at Riverside Motors Gulf Station at 32 Ethan Allen Highway, operated by the well-known Tarquinio “Turk” Pambianchi (1920-95), now the home of Precision Brakeworks.

While Riverside sold Gulf gasoline, Precision Brakeworks — using essentially the same building — does not sell gas.

The sign notes that Gulftane was 30.9 cents a gallon. While that seems ridiculously low compared with  today’s prices, 30.9 cents in 1962 was the equivalent of $2.55 in today’s money.

What’s more, Gulftane was what was called “subregular” gas, a grade below regular that is no longer generally available. (Regular Gulf gas was called “Good Gulf,” above which there was Gulf No-Nox premium, and Gulf Super Unleaded or Gulfcrest.)

Incidentally, the original Gulf Oil Company disappeared in 1985 when it merged with Standard Oil of California to become Chevron. However, the brand name, Gulf, is still licensed to a variety of automobile products including gasolines, made by other companies. 

At the right edge of the picture is a house at 33 Ethan Allen Highway that is today offices, apartments and a little variety store called NJ Condiment. It was owned by Peter Mugavero, who eventually had his barber shop on the ground floor. Peter is now retired and living in Florida.

Peter’s parents, Jerry and Mary Mugavero, lived in a house just beyond the unreadable sign in the distance.  According to grandson Peter Mugavero, a member of the “Old Ridgefield” group, their house is still standing and still painted the same gray color; it’s used for offices of American Irrigation Systems.

The trees in the distance to the left have been largely replaced by a commercial building housing a Dunkin Donuts, Soccer & Rugby Imports, and a Fred Astaire Dance Studio.