Site of World's First Drive-In Gas Station Historic Marker
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
On December 1, 1913, the World's First Drive-In Gas Station opened on "Automobile Row" at the intersection of Baum Boulevard and St. Clair Street in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Images
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
On December 1, 1913, the World's First Drive-In Gas Station opened on "Automobile Row" at the intersection of Baum Boulevard and St. Clair Street in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Filling a car with gasoline was very different 100 years ago. A driver had to hop off the seat, the gas tank was underneath - it needed gravity's help to reach the carburetor because the fuel pump wouldn't be invented for another 15 years. Check the fuel level with a dipstick, since there was no fuel gauge. And someone needed to start cranking the gas because it wasn't going to pump itself.
Filling a car with gasoline was very different 100 years ago. A driver had to hop off the seat, the gas tank was underneath - it needed gravity's help to reach the carburetor because the fuel pump wouldn't be invented for another 15 years. Check the fuel level with a dipstick, since there was no fuel gauge. And someone needed to start cranking the gas because it wasn't going to pump itself.
Only 30 gallons of gasoline, costing 27 cents a gallon, were sold on opening day, Dec 1, 1913. The station also provided free crankcase service, air, water, tires & tubes. This impressed the early drivers of the $400 Model T that sales jumped to over 350 gallons several days after the opening.
Sources
Sanserino, Michael. "Pittsburgh's Century-Old Drive-In Gas Station First of Its Kind." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. November 30, 2013. Accessed November 6, 2016. http://www.post-gazette.com/business/2013/12/01/FILL-ER-UP/stories/201312010079
"1913: First U.S. Drive-In Service Station Opens in Pittsburgh." The Surge. September 27, 2016. Accessed November 6, 2016. http://thesurge.com/stories/1913-first-u-s-drive-service-station-opens-pittsburgh