On my way to pay my water bill, Which had me going to Indianola. A 17 mile trip .
No thought in my mind of a photo destination. Somehow I had grabbed my poor camera bag that day. Maybe I felt guilty about all the neglect, maybe it was the blue skies and beautiful late summer temps. What ever the reason I was glad I had it with. Parked right there in front of the building was this bright red Chevy SS, glistening in the sun like a ripe red apple. What could I do? I had to get the wide angle lens. Standing right in front of the car with bushes up against my backside I strove to lean back and fit it all in, while minimizing the modern cars parked in the background as much as possible. She sure gleamed bright in the warm sunlight.
I just had to find out who owned her so I could get a shot inside free of reflections from the window glass. I walked into the water company, nobody there except staff. next door was a chiropractor office. It seemed to be a casual setting, the doors open while she worked on the patient. I asked who owned the car, and it was the patient. He was done shortly after that and he graciously let me shoot picture of the dash area. That was after he climbed through the trunk to unlock a car door. lol he had forgotten the second key that unlocks the door and didn't want to have to call home to his wife to bring it. I wonder how much good the chiropractor visit did after that?
But I must say, I am sure glad he got in, It was worth the wait. Only in a small town.lolI continued on toward Des Moines. I remember wondering what the purpose of this small brick building had been. All the years I have lived in warren/ Madison Co and driven by this stretch of hwy 65/69. It was a cute building, but not until recently had I seen there were antique gas pumps placed outside. I stopped, Full high noon sun making things bright and difficult to shoot I decided to intentionally play with the flare. With a washed out sky it made it the perfect subject for some vintage color treatment.
Papers out front give more info. This cute little building was The Hastie Station Built in 1933 as an original Standard Oil gas station. Serving motorists on Hwy 65/69 between Des Moines and Indianola between the years 1933 and 1943. Its hard to believe,but it houses a grease pit for mechanics to service cars 5 gal of gas is said to be .97 cents They would check your oil, fill the fluids wash your windows and top off the tank of every car that stopped.
The Warren Co. Historic Preservation Commission is taking steps to restore the building. It looks like they have already rebuilt a falling chimney,I hope they continue to restore the glass windows, the old signs and of course find the glass domes for the pumps. They say many of the equipment remains in place. Here is a scan of a old photo when this station was in its hay day. I only wish an antique car had come along and I could have gotten a shot similar to this.lol
