Along the famous Lincoln Highway in Belle Plaine, Iowa is a former gas station and motel once owned by George and Blanche Preston. Over the years they collected signage for gas stations, gas pumps, motor oils, gasoline, tires and other related motoring brands. Collectively the area of interest is called Petroliana.
George died in 1993 and his wife Blanche died in 1998. George appeared on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson during March 1990.
I don't know the status of these structures but the buildings are still mentioned in area tourism articles. Last summer Iowa's DOT posted signs along the original Lincoln Highway and its many re-configurations to guide modern motorists along America's first transcontinental road. If George was still alive I bet these new signs would find themselves among his collection. Know that.
Good and another post from you admin :)
ReplyDeleteThis is my great grandpas station. Glad to see you are keeping the memory alive while writing about it. I spent my summers in my early childhood here. Handing out magnets to tourists with my cousins and telling them what we loved most about our grandfather. Thank you for this.
ReplyDeletePretty sure your Great Grandpa is on Sublime's Lincoln Highway Dub talking about how he had "196 different oil cans, an electric toaster, there wasn't a thing in here that wasn't one time or another used on the Linclon Highway"
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