calvinellison

This Ft. Worth Sinclair Gas Station reminds me of my Dad's Sinclair Gas Station in Chicago, IL. They must have all used a similar floor plan in the '30s or '40s when they were built. On the picture's right there are two doors, one is the Women's Restroom, the next one at the rear corner is the Boiler Room. They used an oil furnace that could burn Kerosene if out of heating oil. One day in winter while getting a tanker truck of Gasolene, fumes from the vent which was above the roof but apparently too close to the boiler room, we had an explosion. Fumes entered the boiler room and when the furnace started up the explosion blew the boiler room door off and it hit 3 parked cars as it continued all the way across a 6 lane city street. No one was injured but the shock wave took out several windows and knocked my Dad off his chair in the office!