Presenting Our 2024 Calendar:

"Roadside Classics"

"One may whirl across the continent a score of times as a railway passenger and never sense the slightest fraction of nearness to the States and cities traversed...The highway affords an incomparable inspirational course in Americanism." - Newton A. Fuessle as quoted in See America First.

In her book See America First, author Marguerite S. Shaffer wove a tapestry of facts, anecdotes, and the opinions of learned minds as she explored the advent of twentieth century American tourism and its impact on the hearts of countrymen from Maine to southern California. Myriad elements and events influenced the rise of tourism, including the realization that "The Iron Horse" could not travel off its tracks into the seemingly endless miles among towns across the "lower 48."

The quote above from one of Newton A. Fuessle's three 1915 Travel Magazine stories cuts to the heart of what makes continental travel both entertaining and educational. The American auto industry was still in its infancy when Fuessle penned his stories extolling the possibilities of automobile travel on the new Lincoln Highway and the many barely maintained livestock paths being utilized by the newfangled motor car. The Great Depression in the 1930s married people to their automobiles as they sought refuge from the daily grind by visiting America's growing national parks. They traveled - and slept - in their vehicles spurring the rise of the autocamp combining parking with overnight accommodation. For some without employment, the autocamp became home until the economy became more favorable for their future.

An oft-overlooked element in the rise of the auto industry was its dependence on fuel. Over the past century, fuel refilling morphed from a roadside platform holding a barrel of gasoline pumped through a hose to twenty-first century travel centers with gas and electric re-charging stations dotting interstate highways. The gas station is something we, too often, take for granted. Their product was - and continues to be - a necessity that allows us to travel for work and leisure. In my childhood, I knew everyone that worked at the stations in my hometown, and fondly recall my parents telling them to "Fill 'er up!"

Regardless of their form, gas stations - like Benchmark - continue to turn the wheels of commerce and contribute to the quality of life in the communities we serve. We invite you to enjoy this look at a slice of Americana that, like us, is With You for Life.

- Jay Stafford