Restaurants Sprout while Gas Stations Disappear

By David Trigueiro – 6/13/2005

Another gas station bites the dust, and with it a bit of Weiser’s history when there was a service station on most downtown corners and gas pumps at the town’s half-dozen car dealerships.

The station that stood at the corner of State and West Court Streets most recently held a car detailing service called Buff and Stuff that moved out of town when the downtown revitalization project temporarily cut off access. It was torn down last week in anticipation of the property being sold.

Barbara Lee, a real estate agent living on the Oregon side who owns the property, said a sale is pending on the property. “They’re in the process of getting corporate and financial approvals,” she said, adding that no one has told her the exact nature of the business or what they might do with the property. “It’s one of those hush-hush things.”

The original station was opened by Vern Chamberlin, who also had the Chevrolet, Cadillac dealership at Main and East First Streets, recalls Former Mayor Don Stephens, who describes himself as the oldest Main Street guy still alive in Weiser. “He had four boys (Verne, Tom, Walt and Jack) and one of them (Verne) ran it. After that Holly Smith owned it.” It was originally a Utoco station and became Amoco after Utah Oil and American Oil merged.

Across the street, where Zions Bank now resides was the local Mobil Oil gas station. On the next corner was Frank and Leon’s car repair and gas station, which was previously Weiser’s Hudson dealer and a gas station. Across Second Street east from there were the pumps of the Farmers Co-op. On the State Street corner now occupied by King’s Department Store was another gas station operated by Wayne Guyer, later Weiser’s postmaster, Stephens said.

As you drove north on State Street and onto U.S. 95 you had one more opportunity to gas-up at the original State Street Motel, a ramshackle string of tourist cabins separated by garages on the site of the current State Street Motel.

When you drove into Weiser on U.S. 95, there was Bartoschek Texaco, located on the South side of Commercial Street from the Dairy Queen, then Fiddlers Restaurant, and is now a gas station again with a new Chevron outlet and restaurant built last year.

West on Main Street is one of the oldest gas stations still standing in Weiser sharing a block with the Colonial Motel. Stephens said it was a Signal Station in the ’40s and later became a Flying A, or Associated Oil station. In the ’60s it became Phillips 66 and closed sometime later. The building has remained empty and deteriorating for some time.

Further along Main there was a Chevron station on what is now the Bank of the West parking lot. The bank building itself was originally built as the local Buick, Oldsmobile dealership. On the next corner at State Street was the Shell station and at Main and West First was Ryder Ford along with an Esso station. There were at least six other car dealerships in town, all with gas pumps out front, according to Stephens.

So, who bought all that gasoline? Probably the same people that bought all those Hudsons, Studebakers, Pontiacs, Chevies, Cadillacs, Nash Ramblers, and Kaisers, all of which were available in Weiser in the ’50s and ’60s.

“I’ve wondered about that myself, it’s a funny thing,” Stephens said. “In those days families only had one car, now they have two or three. Old Wayne Guyer, I don’t know why he didn’t starve to death, but he kept going on that gas station. If you liked the guy, you bought gas from him.

“Most all those stations did a lot of things other than selling gas. They sold tires and repaired them. Cars needed service more then. You changed your oil every 1,000 miles and had it greased and lubed. Like most everybody else they barely dug out a living.

“People didn’t walk around with cash in their pockets the way everybody does today. It was a lot different. There were a lot of little shops and other things that just aren’t around anymore. There was a guy in a little building where Les Schwab is now that repaired small engines and appliances. Now people just throw ’em away and buy another one.”

Stephens himself worked around town as a butcher. At one time he was in Don’s Market, which was located in the building at Pioneer Road and West Seventh Street where Spanky’s Restaurant was the last tenant. It has recently been sold to Einar Byberg from Florence, Ore., who is reported to be opening a German restaurant sometime in the near future.

In fact, restaurants appear to have replaced gas stations as Weiser’s most prolific businesses. Joyce Knauer recently sold Keystone Pizza to a small Boise-based chain known as Idaho Pizza Company, which is currently renovating the building with assistance from franchisees Rick and Lisa Larsen, Weiser residents. The Larsens hope to open their new business during Fiddle Week

Meanwhile, the Reyes family is renovating the former Roy and Owen’s tire building on West First Street. Greg Reyes said the new business will make tamales and other Mexican food items for grocery stores. As they would be making the popular foods anyway, he said, they decided to include a cafe where people could eat in or take out.

From WEISER SIGNAL AMERICAN – 6/13/05