Last month this column explored a unique 1937 Art Deco-styled Gulf Oil gas station that was formerly located in Washington, DC on Georgia Avenue, just over the District line. Visitors in downtown Silver Spring certainly didn’t have to go down to the District to get gas for a one time there were no less than four stations located within a two-block radius of the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road.

Perhaps the gas station most highly visible to motorists traveling north on Georgia Avenue was the Texaco station, located on the northeast corner of Georgia and Wayne avenues. The station became a landmark of sorts because located next to it was a large sign, painted high on the brick wall of a neighboring apartment building, proclaiming "Texaco Fire Chief Gasoline…Third Alarm Speed and Power." This sign was visible from several blocks away to the south and probably snagged many a motorist before they would have seen the Gulf station that sat just one block further north in the Silver Spring Shopping Center parking lot (today where the "DOWNTOWN SILVER SPRING" letters and fountain are located).

But it was at night that this sign must have really stood out. I have been told that the sign had neon tubing affixed to it that either flashed in sequence or was illuminated in such a way as to give the appearance of the depicted fire truck speeding off to a fire. The site must have been as eye-catching then as the multi-colored, illuminated Discovery Building is to passing motorists today (a reminder of the adage "The more things change, the more they remain the same").

A gas station has been on this corner of Georgia and Wayne since at least the 1940s and possibly earlier. Shortly after W.W. II, Silver Spring resident William H. Bobinger purchased the station and owned and operated it until the mid 1980s when his wife Agnes (Tillie) took over daily operations. Upon the death of both in 1985, their daughter Vicki Bobinger Millett operated the station until it closed on October 30, 1998, a victim of redevelopment.

The circa late '40s — early '50s "Silver Spring: Then" image depicts the Colonial Revival-styled gas station, complete with columned portico and cupola displaying the Texaco star. At some point in time this original station was demolished and a minimalist design featuring a canopy and kiosk replaced it. The jeep parked next to the station may have belonged to Mr. Bobinger as he served in the Army Reserves after service in W.W. II and retired as a lieutenant colonel with twenty-three years of service. On the right of the image, hovering over the roofline of the gas station, can be seen signs for Suburban Motors (with what looks like an actual automobile sitting atop the building!) and in the far distance a sign marking the Hecht Co. (today’s City Place Mall).

The "Silver Spring: Again" photo depicts this same corner, completely filled in with what will become the new headquarters of the American Nurses Association. Groundbreaking for the 180,000 square ft. building took place in April of 2003 and is scheduled to open fall of 2004. On the ground floor facing Wayne Avenue will be an Office Depot. There you will be able to buy copy paper and toner cartridges where once gas and auto repairs were provided for over six decades.

If you can share with the Silver Spring Historical Society any photographs or memorabilia of the Texaco station (or other stations of this design), please contact the SSHS at sshistory@yahoo.com, phone 301.565.2519, or write SSHS, PO Box 1160, Silver Spring, MD 20910-1160. Our web site is www.sshistory.org. Future historians will thank you!