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Five Points
Contributed by Douglas Parker as told to Bruce Parker: Your Great Grandfather, John Carpenter Parker, owned the land at the five-points that he eventually built on. A one story cement block gas station and a two-car service area was built in 1930. The main pedestrian entrance was in the left front corner. A tower went up to about 1-1/2 stories tall. Above this door was an approximately four foot square, outlined in a four inch black border. The interior of the square was white, with a large black letter "B" inside.
The letter "B" was for the Barnsdall Oil Company out of Barnsdall, Oklahoma. Go to "Google", enter "Barnsdall Oil Co." Press "enter" Great reading! Barnsdall was bought out by Wadhams Oil Company. Their icon was a large baked enamel sign in the image of pegasus, son of poseiden, in Greek mythology. This winged horse was in bright red on a white background. "Sign of the Flying Red Horse". See "Wadhams Oil Co." in "Google". Wadhams was eventually bought by Standard Oil Co. (Mobil Oil Co., continued with the icon "Flying red Horse" to this day.)
There was a gravel drive into and out of the station, with one grade of gasoline. Your great uncle Rober Lincoln Parker remembers prices at about $0.14 per gallon. I remember putting gas in my 1928 Essex @ about $0.25 per gallon. My dad had a four door De Sota, and we took it to the north woods (Block House Lake). On our way south, while your great aunt Vera was driving, a tire blew! She was unable to controll the car and we rolled over on to the side of the road (this was north of Madison on hyway US 12). In the back seat was me in the middle, my grandma
Artie Kramer Parker, and a third person. In the front was Vera, my dad, and a third person. Having landed upside down, the battery, under the drivers seat, spilled battery acid down past us and onto the cloth ceiling. No one was injured! Once the car was back in Whitewater, your great uncle Charles Parker helped to repair the damage, replacing the exterior black canvas top with a sheet of metal.
The grocery store at Five Points was built in 1932 of wood frame. Robert and your great aunt Karen Rhode Parker ran the store until Robert went into the U. S. Army. He served our country for five years! Karen continued to run the store. Very soon after D-Day in 1944, Robert landed in Normandy, France. In one of the battles, he lost his left eye. Robert and Karen ran the store until 1955, at which time the place was sold. Karen and Robert owned, and lived in, the house to the south of the station. They rented out the house after they move up north to raise potatoes and cucumbers. While some students rented the house, they painted walls a solid black.
Once I got my drivers permit (age 14, I think) I delivered bread, rolls, pastries, etc to the store. The vehicle was a Ford, perhaps a 1940, and smoked like an old steam engine. Everyone said they did not like to drive behind the Ford delivery van because they couldn't see around it to pass.
The Five-Points has more history than I recall, and I always enjoyed going there. One thing you should remember is that my grandfather Parker was called, in a very friendly way, "HA HA Parker". As the story goes, in was out in a hay field talking to the driver of the hay wagon. As horses will do, they jolted forward the back, rolling a wheel over grandpa's foot, stopping on it! He looked at the driver and said, "Ha Ha, you're on my foot". He was not injured!
Perhaps later more will come to mind. Oh ya!! I just remebered that Robert has the ORIGINAL "Sign of the Flying Red Horse" in his basement... now how about that for kickers? It ain't for sale or give away. Goes to his kids! (April 1, 2007)
Comment from Ginny Coburn: Wonderful story, Bruce and Douglas, thank you. Maybe the original flying red horse could be on a float in the 4th of July parade this year. The theme could be "gas - 14 cents a gallon."
The letter "B" was for the Barnsdall Oil Company out of Barnsdall, Oklahoma. Go to "Google", enter "Barnsdall Oil Co." Press "enter" Great reading! Barnsdall was bought out by Wadhams Oil Company. Their icon was a large baked enamel sign in the image of pegasus, son of poseiden, in Greek mythology. This winged horse was in bright red on a white background. "Sign of the Flying Red Horse". See "Wadhams Oil Co." in "Google". Wadhams was eventually bought by Standard Oil Co. (Mobil Oil Co., continued with the icon "Flying red Horse" to this day.)
There was a gravel drive into and out of the station, with one grade of gasoline. Your great uncle Rober Lincoln Parker remembers prices at about $0.14 per gallon. I remember putting gas in my 1928 Essex @ about $0.25 per gallon. My dad had a four door De Sota, and we took it to the north woods (Block House Lake). On our way south, while your great aunt Vera was driving, a tire blew! She was unable to controll the car and we rolled over on to the side of the road (this was north of Madison on hyway US 12). In the back seat was me in the middle, my grandma
Artie Kramer Parker, and a third person. In the front was Vera, my dad, and a third person. Having landed upside down, the battery, under the drivers seat, spilled battery acid down past us and onto the cloth ceiling. No one was injured! Once the car was back in Whitewater, your great uncle Charles Parker helped to repair the damage, replacing the exterior black canvas top with a sheet of metal.
The grocery store at Five Points was built in 1932 of wood frame. Robert and your great aunt Karen Rhode Parker ran the store until Robert went into the U. S. Army. He served our country for five years! Karen continued to run the store. Very soon after D-Day in 1944, Robert landed in Normandy, France. In one of the battles, he lost his left eye. Robert and Karen ran the store until 1955, at which time the place was sold. Karen and Robert owned, and lived in, the house to the south of the station. They rented out the house after they move up north to raise potatoes and cucumbers. While some students rented the house, they painted walls a solid black.
Once I got my drivers permit (age 14, I think) I delivered bread, rolls, pastries, etc to the store. The vehicle was a Ford, perhaps a 1940, and smoked like an old steam engine. Everyone said they did not like to drive behind the Ford delivery van because they couldn't see around it to pass.
The Five-Points has more history than I recall, and I always enjoyed going there. One thing you should remember is that my grandfather Parker was called, in a very friendly way, "HA HA Parker". As the story goes, in was out in a hay field talking to the driver of the hay wagon. As horses will do, they jolted forward the back, rolling a wheel over grandpa's foot, stopping on it! He looked at the driver and said, "Ha Ha, you're on my foot". He was not injured!
Perhaps later more will come to mind. Oh ya!! I just remebered that Robert has the ORIGINAL "Sign of the Flying Red Horse" in his basement... now how about that for kickers? It ain't for sale or give away. Goes to his kids! (April 1, 2007)
Comment from Ginny Coburn: Wonderful story, Bruce and Douglas, thank you. Maybe the original flying red horse could be on a float in the 4th of July parade this year. The theme could be "gas - 14 cents a gallon."
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Latest page update: made by
Anonymous
, Apr 21 2007, 12:36 PM EDT
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About This Update
Edited anonymously
40 words added view changes - complete history) |
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| Anonymous | Wadhams History | 0 | Aug 31 2007, 10:10 AM EDT by Anonymous | ||
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Thread started: Aug 31 2007, 10:10 AM EDT
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The history outlined in this recollection is almost totally inaccurate. Wadhams bought out Bartles not Barnsdall. Wadhams was bought by Vacuum in 1930. The Pegasus was not Wadhams logo, I have collected Wadhams memorabilia and history for 25 years and have a very large collection.
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