We will conclude our tour of gas stations with a few stations scattered about Monroe that were no longer along the highways by 1950s. One of those was at 1723 11th Street, across the street north from the post office. Some will remember that it was (Malcolm) Marti’s Texaco Station in the 1960s. The land that it occupied was purchased from the Fitzgibbons family in 1925. At one time it was along state highways 61 and 20, and one block from highway 31. It is unknown when the routes of those highways were changed, but it may have been in the late 1920s when the route numbers were changed. A photo of this station can be seen on page 50 of the Pictorial History of Monroe.
Timber’s Gulf Service was located at 1723 12th Street on the corner across from city hall and the fire station. Various stations operated there from the 1930s to the early 1970s. Many will also remember the Goecks station that operated on the southeast corner of 16th Avenue and 13th Street, now the location of the Turner Hall parking lot. The Green County Service Co-op operated on the northwest corner of 14th Avenue and 17th Street (Smokey Row) in the 1950s and 60s.
There was also a Texaco Service Station at 1502-04 10th Street in 1936; this is now the location of Hedeman Real Estate across from the current library (the old Clinic building). There was a Standard Oil station at 1422 11th Street in 1933, now the location of Summit Credit Union. The Lorch garage filling station operated diagonally across the street from that in 1922, where the parking ramp later stood.
Geiger Marty & Babler operated an automobile garage and service station at 1207 16th Avenue, across from Suisse Haus, in the 1920s. A gas pump can be seen in some of the old photos of that building. The 1915 Sanborn fire map showed a 280-gallon gasoline tank buried at that location. Another gas pump can be seen in some old photos of the William Becker store at 1200 17th Avenue; Marine Credit Union now occupies that property. The 1915 Sanborn fire map showed a 180-gallon gasoline tank buried at that location. The last of those older gas stations that I found is a Cities Service Station listed in the 1930 directory at 1302 14th Avenue, now the corner where Minhas Distillery is located.
Some newer stations were built after the bypass was opened in the late 1960s. Two of those were across the street from each other on 21st Street and Highway 69. Lucky 7 opened in the early 1970s and still operates at 710 21st Street while Daehlin’s Skelly Service (later Daehlin’s Shell Service) was located across the street and now sits empty.
The Northsiders Mobil station opened on January 17, 2007 and still operates at 180 N 18th Avenue, just south of the bypass. Mike Doyle operated the gas pumps on the corner of 8th Street and the bypass from 1990 until after Brennan’s market closed. Badger State Ethanol opened their station in the west part of town with four pumps and later added four more. Bowen Oil also has a station at 602 1st Avenue, across from St Vincent de Paul.
The last of the current gas stations to open was the current KwikTrip, built on more than two acres at 720 8th Avenue. Their grand reopening, after moving from the previous location, was held during August 2017.
Bob Dearth had mapped about 25 older stations on the map that he remembered. I added in the newer stations and found a few more that were before Bob’s memory, which makes about 40 stations that have existed in Monroe. What we now refer to as gas stations were referred to as filling or service stations in the earlier years. That was because the men were able to service the automobiles as well as fill them up. When the stations offered full service, the attendant would not only pump the gas, but clean the windshield and check the air in the tires. As gasoline prices increased, full service disappeared.
If you have any old photographs of Monroe stations that I haven’t copied or information that might be helpful in putting together a history of any of the gas stations in Monroe, please send me an email message. If there is any station that I missed, please also inform me of that.
— Matt Figi is a Monroe resident and a local historian. His column will appear periodically on Saturdays in the Times. He can be reached at mfigi48@tds.net or at 608-325-6503.
