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| The Tatnall Gazebo |
Mill Road. There are a number of potential blog post topics related to the school, whether it's the founding of the school and its operation along Delaware Avenue in Wilmington beginning in the 1930, the move out of the city in 1952, or the 1860's house purchased by the school, which is still in use today. All good subjects for sure, but the story I want to tell now is that of a smaller structure on campus. It stands between that gorgeous old house and much newer tennis courts and playgrounds. It looks like a throw-back to a very much older time, and while it isn't quite that old, it does predate Tatnall's Christiana Hundred campus.
The structure in question is what appears to be a concrete gazebo, crafted in the style of a Greek temple. And while it could be just a random piece of decorative architecture on the grounds, its history and significance are quite a bit greater. Of all the things you might guess this cute little building was, I'd feel confident in saying "gas station" would be pretty far down the list. And yet, sure enough, that's what it was. The Tatnall gazebo was built as a gas station in Wilmington, and stood at 11th and Washington Streets for over 40 years. (It was boarded up for a number of years prior to being moved, and it's unclear exactly when it stopped doing business.)
Since most of you are thinking, "I've never seen a gas station like that," a little background and context might help it make more sense. Back in the earliest days of the automobile, car owners had to buy gasoline by the bucketful, take it home, and fill it into their tanks themselves using a measuring can. That all changed in 1905, with the introduction of S.F. Bowser's Self-Measuring Gasoline Storage Pump. The big innovation here was the hose that drivers could use to pump gasoline directly into their car's tank. These contraptions, nicknamed "filling stations", were installed along the sides of public streets outside of general stores and the like. The pumps out front of John H. Foard's Store in Marshallton were typical of what you'd see in rural areas. However, in the cities, these street-side pumps tended to block traffic as motorists pulled in to fill up.
