Travel Through Time: Gates Service Station

by Anna Cooper—Associate Editor

Get ready to drive back through memory lane as Cypress does some time traveling back into the good ole days of yesteryear from March through September of this year! From replica service stations to diners, get ready to see some of the wonderful things West Tennessee has to offer when it comes to the ’old made new’. 

Driving down the main stretch of road in Gates, Tennessee just off Highway 51, there’s an old service station on the corner of 2nd and Hill House Street. Painted a bright, stark white with blue and red accents, this building has a story to tell.

It was built around 1956 by Lion Oil Company. It originally had a glass window where people could watch their cars being worked on, but that was taken out when they began work on fixing the station up. In the middle of the service bay, is a shelving unit where they kept the oil for the cars. A room behind the lobby is where they kept car parts which now hold some special projects for the current owner. The original wood garage doors maintained their original hinges and hardware, but the doors themselves have a nice coat of fresh paint. A lot of work has been put into making this building shine like it’s new.

The current owner, John “Johnny” Hutcherson, lived in a little community called Concord near Gates and the service station. He and his friends were known to hang out at the station sometimes, watching the older men playing cards and hoping a cool car would pull in. Sometimes he would ride his bike from his house all the way there and if he was lucky, his mom might have dropped him and his bike off there on her way to visit family that lived nearby. “There’s isn’t much going on in this little town. We’ve got one four-way-stop. Back when I was a kid, we had a little bit more going on in Gates. We had a grocery store, barbershop, cafes, two cotton gins, a milling company, a coal yard, and a train depot. The big stores consumed these little towns.”

Hutcherson enjoyed the time he’s spent in Gates and he hated to let all the good memories he made at the service station fade away. “I just say it's just an aspiration that I've wanted to do for years, but the owners were not ready to sell.” But Hutcherson kept his eye on it just in case. 

It was a good thing he did, because it went on the market where he was soon able to snatch it up. The place needed work, “it was difficult you know, pretty much everything here was in bad shape. The electrical, the plumbing, the floors, the concrete were bad. All that's been repaired or replaced. It was quite a nightmare to fix this place, even though, no bigger than it was—it was a major job to finish. My friends and I have been diligently working on this place on and off the last few years in our spare time.” The gas pumps and island lights have been updated over the years, “we went back with period-correct pumps and lights. The island lights came from the old  DX station from Ripley TN.”

Hutcherson has been able to find some local items such as the small 5 cent Coca Cola drink box with original paint in the corner of the lobby which came from the old Ben Franklin 5 & dime store in Ripley TN. “It was one I put money in when I was a kid. It’s kinda neat to me that I purchased it when Ben Franklin closed. 

Hutcherson has a shop where they restored the gas pumps and other fixtures needed for the restoration. For instance, “there’s is a gas pump from the 30s and an old old air meter. I know a lot of younger people have never seen an Air-O-Meter. The meter has a crank to set your air pressure for your tire. When it reaches the desired pressure it dings a couple of times. Wouldn’t that be nice if we had that today?” 

Also in the lobby, where the glass window and air conditioning used to be, is a snack bar. A couple of Hutcherson’s friends helped him put it in, by laying the black, white, and red tile. The coolest piece on the bar, Hutcherson found locally is the old nickle plated cash register, which came from Billy Viar’s meat house/grocery store. “Yeah, there’s a lot of other stuff in here that’s local.” 

Like Hutcherson said, many of the items in the store were collected locally, but one that really means something special to him is a toy Mustang. “We had a house fire that destroyed everything our family had including all my toys. I bought that toy Mustang in 1967 with money I earned from chopping cotton. It has adjustable wheels where the front wheels turn and it runs on batteries. After playing with it, it didn't run fast as I thought it should. So I thought, wow I paid $8 for this toy out of my cotton chopping money. My mother said, 'I could carry it back and he'll give you the money back.' So I did that. When I handed it to Mr. Jones,  I was ashamed because I wanted to return something I had bought from him. Mr. Jones turned around to his son sitting up on the counter and said, 'do you want this toy car?' Jimmy replied 'yeah, I'll take it.' Jimmy was older than me. He gladly took the toy.”

“Some 40 years later, I saw Jimmy and he said 'My mom passed away and I was cleaning out her attic and I found some toys that you might be interested in.' He brought me several Coca Cola items and then he pulls out this car. I saw that car and it popped into my head. I said ‘Jimmy, there’s something about this car that fascinates me.’ I go home that evening and unpacked the Mustang and what made me remember so distinctly this car was because when I flipped open the frame showing how the car works, the bulb shining into four tubes directing light to the tail and headlights. That’s when I remembered the story of returning it.”

“So then I went to see Jimmy. I said, ‘Jimmy. I used to own this car.’ He said, ‘Really?’ and I said, ‘yeah this is my old car.’ I always felt a little guilty about it. Like I shouldn't have got rid of it, but I expected a Mustang to go real fast. I remember my Mom standing there with me when I gave it back. I remember the whole conversation. It’s funny how something that long ago can jog your memory.” There are tons of vintage toys in Hutcherson’s service station including two Green Giant Tonka trucks that ran as promo toys, a bright orange U-Haul sitting on the shelving unit in the service bay, and so many more cool toys. “I've got this toy collection that I've had for years. I’ve just put these toys in here just so people would have a place to see them.” 

“Over the years I have accumulated a small antique auto graveyard. It’s a nice feeling when you see that smile on someone’s face when you have the parts for their old classic. Mr Leroy Harris was the operator of the service station when I was a kid. I think he treated all kids like we were his own. What a great person he was. Gates will always miss him.”