It’s been a year since Jeff Fulgenzi moved the Mahan Filling Station. In its heyday, farmers filled their farm trucks and tractors up with gas at the former station that today is on the property of Fulgenzi’s Pizza & Pasta. Fulgenzi’s is along Route 66 in Springfield, Ill., and there is a story both behind this iconic station and the restaurant it now calls home. Annette Fulgenzi said her husband, Jeff, wanted to ensure that this early example of a gas station remained visible to the public. When it sold, he purchased the station and brought it to the family business where now visitors can stop, look and take Route 66 pictures – with the added benefit of eating some of Fulgenzi’s great food. The gas station had been part of the late Bill Shea Sr.’s museum. After he passed away in 2013, the museum articles at 2075 Peoria Road in Springfield were auctioned off in 2015, and Jeff bought it and moved it to Fulgenzi’s. According to Illinois 66 history, Fulgenzi’s restaurant property was once the site of two Route 66 motels and a car painting business. Fulgenzi's opened its original family restaurant in 1979 as a “Custard Castle,” which has become a regular stop for Route travelers. Shea purchased the station from John Mahan of Middletown, Ill., and added it to his Shea Gas Station museum in 2000. The Mahan station is estimated to date to circa 1917. Jeff said, “It is one of the earliest gas stations imagined. It was designed by Butler Manufacturing in Springfield. The stations were assembled as automobiles started carving out roads.” He appreciates the fact that the station was built in Springfield and has now returned to the town that produced it. Mahan’s station was located along Route 136 halfway between Easton and Havana at Knuppell’s Corner. An article in the Lincoln Daily News quoted Mahan: “Dad bought it and moved to Middletown before World War II. He ran it as a Philips 66 Station until he went into the Army. When he came back, he ran it for years. He probably closed it in the mid-1950s.” Before the gas station was moved in Middletown, it sat on the corner of 105 Fifth Street. After being located there for 60 years, it made the move to Springfield, where it became a main attraction at Shea’s Gas Station Museum. Shea’s museum featured automobile service station memorabilia. He had his own personal history with gas stations – he operated a Texaco service station at a nearby location, followed by a Marathon station at the former museum site from 1955-82. In honor of the Mahan family, Shea had an embossed metal sign made using the family name. That sign is still on the 14-by-14-foot building now at Fulgenzi's. Keeping the station a place where the public could enjoy it was in the forefront of Jeff’s mind when he purchased it. “I recognized for years, having lived on the north end and along this corridor, we witnessed travelers visiting Route 66, and I didn’t want to see the Mahan station lose its presences on Route 66. Thankfully we were able to save it and welcome visitors from all over the world, and save a bit of our history,” he explained. “Route 66 is a ‘bucket list’ item for travelers international, as well, and this is a great photo stop. I enjoy seeing the book (inside Fulgenzi’s at the register) and visitors sign in from all over the world.” He continues to try to preserve Route 66 history. “We created a not-for-profit. We are just getting started and we hope to have a regional Route 66 museum/welcome center. We have tremendous history in Springfield and the lower Sangamon Valley, and in the heart of the Abraham Lincoln national heritage area. We are also along the Route 66 bicycle trail.” For anyone wanting to donate to this regional museum or to find out more about the nonprofit, call Jeff at 217-741-3905. The station is located at 1168 Sangamon Avenue beside Fulgenzi’s. Stop in and take a look at this iconic gas station, and check out Fulgenzi’s Pizza and Pasta and the Route 66 memorabilia available inside. Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication. Learn more of Cindy’s finds and travel in her blog, “Traveling Adventures of a Farm Girl,” at http://travelingadventuresofafarmgirl.com |
