Skip to main content

Whiting Brothers Gas Station - Moriarity, New Mexico

Image
By


One of the more common sites along the western half of 66 was the red and yellow Whiting Brother's logo.  Whether it was fuel, service, food, or lodging - you could find them from California to Texas.  The family-owned chain started when the four sons of a lumberman opened a gas station in St. John's, Arizona in 1917.  The brothers incorporated the company in 1926 - the same year the US Highway system and 66 were created - and moved their headquarters north to Holbrook, where Route 66 would soon run through.  


Whiting Brothers would rise and fall with US 66.  At its peak, there were nearly 40 Whiting Brothers Stations along 66 from Lenwood, CA to Shamrock, Texas.  Over time, the company built truck stops and motels.  Many of the Whiting Brothers Motels were built next to an existing gas or service station.  When much of Interstate 40 replaced US 66 in the 1970s, many Whiting Brothers stations began to close.  


Whiting Brothers were known to have "Most of the Best for Least."  They typically had a low-frills gas station made of inexpensive materials.  They also had discount cards - offering motorists a few pennies of a gallon.  They were also known for their lengthy yellow and red billboards that were more like fences.  IT wasn't hard to miss that a Whiting Brother's station was in the next town.

In Moriarity, New Mexico - the lone-Whiting Brother's station survives.  Though it no longer sells gas, tire repairs, batteries, and simple vehicle repairs and maintenance are still performed here.  The station is owned by Sal Lucero.  A former employee of Whiting Brothers, he purchased the station from the chain in 1985.  Much of the original signage and pumps from the station - built in 1954 - remain.  In December 2014, a restored Whiting Brothers sign once again shone brightly in Moriarity.  The sign restoration was made possible by a Route 66 Corridor Preservation Grant from the National Park Service.

All photos taken by post author - April 19, 2010.


Site Navigation:
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

By
  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Abandoned Fowler Avenue in Clovis, California

By
Originally Fowler Avenue in the city of Clovis had a brief discontinuation approaching Herndon Avenue.  Fowler Avenue traffic heading northbound was required to detour briefly onto westbound Herndon Avenue.  During 2001 this discontinuation was removed when Fowler Avenue was reconfigured to access the Sierra Freeway (California State Route 168) via an interchange.  This led to a segment of the original alignment of Fowler Avenue just south of Herndon Avenue to be abandoned.  Despite a shopping center opening over part of the original Fowler Avenue alignment in 2016 much of the abandoned roadway remains.   The history of the abandoned original alignment of Fowler Avenue in Clovis The original alignment of California State Route 168 departed downtown Clovis eastbound along Tollhouse Road.  This original alignment did not interact with Fowler Avenue at the Herndon Avenue intersection.  Fowler Avenue north of Tollhouse Road ran north to Herndon Avenue...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hot Springs Drive (Tulare County Mountain Road 56)

By
Hot Springs Drive is an approximately twenty-mile rural highway in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Tulare County.  The Hot Springs Drive corridor begins at Old Stage Road at Fountain Springs and extends eastward to Parker Pass Road near California Hot Springs.  Hot Springs Drive is carried by Tulare County Mountain Road 56 and acts as an extension of Avenue 56 (Tulare County Route J22).   What is now California Hot Springs originated as the Deer Creek Hot Springs Resort in 1882.  The resort on Deer Creek was originally served by a Control Road which required traffic alternate at different times of the day.  The modern California Hot Springs resort would incorporate in 1905 following an ownership change.  The Control Road corridor was replaced by Hot Springs Drive around 1915 which intended to serve increasing amount of automotive traffic to California Hot Springs.  Much of the resort would later burn in 1968 but was rebuilt in the 1980s. ...
Post a Comment
Read more