Speaker's Mobil Station

801 E Millcreek Rd (Rt 66), Lebanon, MO
Phone:

East < GO > West

Tom Bacon opened his first gas station a few feet west of this station in 1926. He sold Shell gasoline along with sandwiches to travelers. That station featured a couple of gravity fed visible gas pumps under the front edge of a gabled canopy on the front of the station. When electric pumps became available they switched one pump at a time, but by 1946 both had been switched.

It is located where Millcreek Rd curves and become Elm St on the north side.

GPS: 37.683926,-92.648658

There were a few tourist cabins along the east side of the station. One of the novel parts of this cabin rental deal was that in warm weather guests could take a shower in the station restrooms thanks to a sort of solar heated water tank on the station roof. No showers in the winter!

Bacon's son-in-law, Thorny Speaker took over in 1933 and switched to Mobil products eventually becoming a Mobil distributor as well as a dealer. The concrete block station shown here was built in 1952 and closed in the late 1990s. You can see remains of the "flying red horse" on the building.

As of 2018 this station was still owned by the same family that started their business here just before Hwy 14 was designated as Route 66. This may be the only such long term ownership on the Mother Road in Lebanon..

Photo(s): 2018