Wadham's Oil and Grease Company of Milwaukee was a chain of

filling Filling may refer to: * a food mixture used for stuffing * Icing (food), Frosting used between layers of a cake * Dental restoration * Symplectic filling, a kind of cobordism in mathematics * Part of the leather crusting process See also

* Fi ...

and service stations that operated in the early 20th century and was headquartered in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. The company's refinery was in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. The company was headed by Harger W. Dodge, who assumed leadership from his father-in-law in 1916. Dodge saw the potential in offering a convenient way for automobile owners to fill their cars with gasoline. He built off-street filling stations with underground tanks for the gasoline and electric pumps to dispense it. Wadham's was purchased by

Vacuum Oil Company Vacuum Oil Company was an American oil company known for its ''Gargoyle'' 600-W steam cylinder motor oil. After being taken over by the original Standard Oil Company and then becoming independent again, in 1931 Vacuum Oil merged with the Standar ...

in 1930. Vacuum Oil was then acquired by

Socony Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...

, which later became

Mobil Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...

Pagoda service stations

Early gas stations were small, ugly or utilitarian buildings that attracted little notice and even complaints from neighbors. Dodge hired Milwaukee architect

Alexander C. Eschweiler Alexander Chadbourne Eschweiler (August 10, 1865 – June 12, 1940) was an American architect with a practice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He designed both residences and commercial structures. His eye-catching Japonist pagoda design for filling st ...

to design eye-catching stations. Inspired by

Japanese culture The culture of Japan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Historical overview The ance ...

, which was popular at the turn of the century, he created Wadham's signature

pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

. As well as a prime example of

Japonism ''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858. Japon ...

, the design was one of the earlier examples of architecture forging a

brand identity A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create a ...

. Each building was unique, having a different roofline and floor plan. The pagoda-style roofs were made of stamped-metal tiles. Atop the gabled red roofs many stations had

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

s - often multi-tiered - with lanterns hanging from the corners. The walls were black with yellow trim around the copious glass. They most often featured large plate glass windows on the front, and multi-pane windows covering the sides. Wadham's built over 100 of these distinctive pagodas between 1917 and 1930. Few of these stations remain. One, built in 1927, was in use as a gas station until 1978. Restored in 2000, it is on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

and is maintained as a museum display by the city of

West Allis West Allis is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. A suburb of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 60,325 at the 2020 census. History The name West Allis derives from Edward P. Allis, ...

.Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places
/ref> Another, built in 1926, is part of the Washington Avenue Historic District in Cedarburg and is in use as a jewelry store.Wisconsin Historical Society
/ref>TV show transcript
/ref>

References

External links

Vintage photoHistorical images
{{National Register of Historic Places Commercial buildings completed in 1927 Companies based in Milwaukee ExxonMobil buildings and structures Former ExxonMobil subsidiaries Retail buildings in Wisconsin West Allis, Wisconsin Gas stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Milwaukee