Last of Its Kind Gas Station on The Move in Wisconsin

A historic gas station the last known of its kind in the nation is moving in Wisconsin to become an ice cream parlor and gift shop.

The gas station in question is located along the frontage road of Highway 53 in Gordon, Wisconsin. Its current ICO wants to clear the site for future development, so instead of scraping the building plans were enacted to save and move the building.

The gas station was built in 1939 and came as a catalog order building, according to the Gordon-Wascott Historical Society, "The catalog was of the Butler Manufacturing Co. and featured the "Butler Boulevard" line of streamlined modern gas stations and diners. The Band Box Diner in Minneapolis is the last of the diners and this is the last of the gas stations."

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The historical society has done some research on the building and discovered that " It originally stood where the Gordon Museum is now and was a Cities Service Station and when Highway 53 was moved in the 1940's it was moved to where it stands now and became a Shell Station, which is how it is best remembered by the community."

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The plan is to move the historic station to a lot near the middle of town and it will operate as an ice cream parlor and tourist gift shop called "Gordon Station." To make this move possible the Douglas County Board of Adjustment had to grant a variance, which was aided by support of the Town of Gordon, Gordon-Wascott Historical Society, Douglas County Historical Society, and the Douglas County Chamber of Commerce.

The new owner, Julie Phelps, is a retired Correctional Center worker who is described as a person with a lot of energy and a "roll up your sleeves and get things done" kind of person. The Historical Society says that, "a generous monetary donation by Mike and Dorothy O'Brien of Whitefish Lake was made towards meeting the conditions required by ICO for building purchase."