Soulsby Service Station
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The Soulsby Service Station is a historic service station in Mount Olive,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
. The station is located along historic
U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...
and is the oldest usable service station on the highway in Illinois. It serves as an example of the house and canopy
gas station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...
design. Henry Soulsby built the station in 1926 after an injury forced him to leave the mining industry and operated it along with his children Russell and Ola Soulsby. His son Russell, a
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
naval communications technician, operated a radio and TV repair business out of the station as Interstate 55 diverted highway traffic away from the site in the late 1950s. The station stopped pumping gas in 1991 and closed in 1993; plans currently exist to reopen it as a museum.


References

Transport infrastructure completed in 1926 Transportation buildings and structures in Macoupin County, Illinois Buildings and structures on U.S. Route 66 Retail buildings in Illinois Gas stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Macoupin County, Illinois {{MacoupinCountyIL-NRHP-stub