Harold Gas Station

My grandfather’s brother, Harold Howard Hosaflook (b. 11/8/1909, d. 12/2/1971) , owned this gas station / store in Mt Solon, Virginia.  He lived in the white house on the right which had a service garage on the ground level.

Harold Gas Station 2
Harold had the house and the garage when he and Frances Burton McFall (b. 11/18/1910, d. 3/17/2008) were married on November 19, 1931.  The gas station was built a couple years later.  The station and garage were located at the corner of State Route 747 and Natural Chimney Road, where today stands an empty lot.  In 1944, when a gas truck came to fill the pumps, a cap was left open and an explosion occurred; destroying the gas station.  Harold continued to operate the garage but never rebuilt the gas station.

Here is the cover of a calendar that Harold gave out at the garage.

4 Comments

  1. Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith

    Welcome to the GeneaBloggers family. Hope you find the association fruitful; I sure do. I have found it most stimulating, especially some of the Daily Themes.

    May you keep sharing your ancestor stories!

    Dr. Bill 😉
    http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/
    Author of "13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories" and family saga novels:
    "Back to the Homeplace" and "The Homeplace Revisited"
    http://thehomeplaceseries.blogspot.com/
    http://www.examiner.com/x-53135-Springfield-Genealogy-Examiner
    http://www.examiner.com/x-58285-Ozarks-Cultural-Heritage-Examiner

  2. Nancy

    Oh, I remember little filling stations similar to this one. We don't see them very often these days, except a few that have been converted to little shops or stores.

    It's too bad Harold lost the gas station to an explosion.

    Welcome to GeneaBloggers.

  3. Nancy

    P.S. I love the photo on your header. That's an amazing tangle of roots.

  4. Heather Kuhn Roelker

    Very cool photos! I love to see photos of everyday places from the past.