Route 66, Texaco Filling Station, Foyil, OK

Chelsea State Bank I was very excited to see in the Chelsea paper that the Chelsea Historical Society is planning to restore the old Chelsea State Bank building. I always thought it was a very cool building but never knew it had been a Bank. I wish them the best of luck. Please check out their Facebook page for more information. https://www.facebook.com/Chelsea-Ok-Historical-Society-101609204571258/

Texaco’s Big Friend Texaco’s big friend was a giant 40 foot tall fiberglass statue of a service station attendant created to help promote its Big Friend Service campaign in 1966. The statues were not used for very long due to concerns by station owners that they would fall over during high winds. Texaco chose to be more safe than sorry and had station owners remove and destroy the statues. There are very few of the 300 produced that still exist making them extremely rare.

Texaco’s Airplane Filling Station The Royal Albatross Service Station in Studio City California was an airplane that was made into a Texaco filling station but the Texaco Airplane Filling Station in Powell Tennessee was a building made to look like an airplane. Built in 1931 by brothers Henry and Elmer Nickle to resemble the airplane, Spirit of St. Louis, that Charles Lindbergh had just made the first solo transatlantic flight with in 1927. Following a similar story as many old filling station, it functioned as a filling station for 35 years before entering into a period of decline, then it was abandoned. It was rescued from demolition, added to the National Register of Historic Places, restored at a cost of $100,000 and is now a barber shop.

Gideon W. Gid Graham and Round Mound Born in 1867, Gid Graham was elected as one of Rogers County's first county commissioners in 1907. He was elected to the state Senate from the Rogers-Nowata County District in 1911. He was the chairman of the Oklahoma Game and Fish Commission in 1932 and was a life-long wildlife conservationist. He chose the top of a limestone mound 5 miles west of Foyil, known locally as round mound, as his grave site where he was buried after his death on February 10 1950.