Preserving Route 66 Treasures
Phillips 66 Station, Chandler, Oklahoma
If Bill Fernau has his way, Route 66 travelers will be able to pump gas the old-fashioned way in the not-too-distant future.
The owner of a 1930 Phillips 66 station in Chandler has spent the past three years restoring his building and outfitting it with antique equipment, signage and lighting in the hope that he will one day be able to sell travelers the experience of pumping gas from a vintage gas pump at a vintage filling station.
“In my vision at this point in time, I would like to pump gas from the old pumps,” Fernau said.
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| Cottage-style station with late-1950s addition on the left |
In September, Fernau received the National Historic Route 66 Federation's Cyrus Avery award for his efforts to restore the historic property.
Fernau said he was as surprised as anybody when he won.
“I was just dumbfounded,” he said. “Lisa (Mileham, a close friend) was with me and said, 'Bill! That's you!' I said, 'No, it's somebody else.' I didn't think there was a chance in the world that this little project would garner that kind of attention.”
Fernau has big plans for his “little project.”
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| Old-time gas pump |
In addition to selling gas from vintage pumps, Fernau eventually would like to put in a 1940s-style Phillips quick lube shop and build a stainless-steel diner on a piece of land behind the building.
“It would really make a wonderful addition to 66 and Chandler,” he said.
The station, which was in constant service from 1930 to 1992, had been empty for seven years when Fernau bought it.
“It's a job that just needed doing,” he said of the restoration work. “It was such a beautiful, restorable classic Phillips 66 station on Route 66—everything was right, and the final motivator was we had another building down the road in Chandler that was on Route 66—a nice old house—that was torn down, and an auto parts company put up a steel building, and it was such a nice corner that I was afraid that would happen to the station.”
Fernau grew up in Idaho and eastern Washington. His work as a hazardous materials specialist for the federal railroad administration eventually took him to Louisiana, but he “always had a fascination” with Route 66.
In the late 1990s, Fernau got a job transfer from Louisiana to Oklahoma City. A familiar sign told him he was home.
“I kept seeing a road that said, 'Six-six,' and I thought, 'Could this be Old Route 66?'” he said. “It was funny how that 66 (was) almost like a bell going off in my head: 'Here's home.'”
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| Detail from facade |
Fernau rented a farm in Stroud in 1997 and spent the next two years driving past the old gas station in Chandler, hoping someone else would buy it and restore it, but it never happened.
“I just thought, 'Well, it must be up to me,'” he said.
Fernau bought the property in January 1999 and began the painstaking—and occasionally death-defying— process of restoring it.
“Initially, I just stabilized the buildings and actually fell through the roof in one of the garage areas,” he laughed, recalling how he'd carefully walked along the roof, carrying a long stick like a tightrope walker's for balance, as he inspected it for weaknesses.
After identifying the spots that needed repairs, “I got my bucket of roofing repair tar, and the next step I took, I fell through the roof,” he said.
Fortunately, Fernau wasn't seriously injured in the fall, although it took a little more than a bucket of tar to repair the resulting damage to the roof.
After shoring up the roof, installing gutters and improving drainage around the building, Fernau converted part of the property to living quarters so he wouldn't have to pay rent and a mortgage at the same time.
“Fortunately, there was a tire warehouse associated with the property, and I gutted all the tire racks and took the paint off all the brick and built a very comfortable living space,” he said. “This will eventually be office space.”
The next step was to track down antique gas pumps, lighting, signage, an air compressor and other items for the station.
In the process of searching for authentic memorabilia, Fernau discovered unexpected riches.
“The absolute surprise to me is the human contact with the people, because these items have been in their families for 50 or 70 years, and they have a close attachment to the way they lived and the way they are,” Fernau said. “Most of these folks lived and pumped gas along 66, and this is part of their heritage.”
That attachment means Fernau has to invest some time and effort into convincing people to part with their treasures.
“In that time, I get to know them and their stories about 66, and it is rich—the stories are rich,” he said.
Fernau is a meticulous researcher, consulting with the Phillips 66 company's own archives to make sure he has the details right.
“Everything we've done here has been done according to archival photographs,” he said. “The only reproduction items we're going to use are the glass items that could be broken. Everything else is original.”
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| Example of blueprint used in Fernau's research |
Even with access to the company's extensive collection of photographs, blueprints, paint samples and other information, Fernau had to do some serious legwork on his own.
“There is a blue that was used on these stations from 1929 to 1930—two years—and Phillips didn't know what the color was,” he said. “So I went to several stations in several states and asked the owners if I could take down their downspouts and chip paint from underneath the downspout, because I knew it wouldn't be faded.”
Other items—such as vintage lights for the outside of the building and a working 1930s compressor— have required similarly Herculean efforts, but Fernau said the “hard work” is behind him now, and he's ready to start putting together the pieces of his project.
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| Vintage Phillips sign at roadside |
“Next is assembling the property—putting all the pieces of the property together,” he said. “We've begun. We have a beautiful 50-year-old sign in the front.”
Fernau, who has spent about $30,000 a year on the restoration project, isn't sure how long it will take or how much it will cost to complete. He said past projects have taught him not to bother guessing.
“Typically, it will cost twice as much as my best estimate and take three times as long as my best estimate,” he said.
In the meantime, Fernau is happy to show visitors what he's done so far.
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| Bill Fernau with faithful companion Maxx |
“We have people from all over the country come and take photographs of their vehicles in front of the station,” he said. “If I'm here, I give them a grand tour.”
Fernau's historic Phillips 66 station is located at the corner of 7th and Manvel, right on Route 66. Just look for the huge black and orange Phillips 66 sign—you can't miss it.
