In the time before a ceremony Thursday morning involving the restored Vickery Phillips 66 Station in downtown Tulsa, at least one question was perhaps inadvertantly answered.
How many people can be crammed into a cottage-style station?
Answer: at least 20.
That’s impressive, in that the Vickery Station’s main building measures only 13 feet by 20 feet, and some of the interior space was displaced by a snacks table and a main desk. The reason so many gathered inside was to escape a biting wind and temperatures in the 30s.
But eventually, the throng of city officials, historic preservationists and reporters filed outside to commemorate owner Michael Sager’s efforts in restoring the former Route 66 station, which has been converted into an Avis car-rental business. Sager received a $40,000 grant from the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, but he spent many more thousands of dollars to restore the once-abandoned property.
Route 66 Corridor program manager Kaisa Barthuli said the Vickery Station was a “poster-child project” in Route 66 preservation. I also noted it was the first time that I’d seen Barthuli and her fellow program manager, Michael Taylor, in National Park Service uniforms.
“Avis wanted a unique” presence on Route 66, Sager said. “This proves that tiny projects have merit,” he said.
Sager is no stranger to historic preservation. He also owns the historic Blue Dome filling station, also on an old alignment of Route 66 in downtown Tulsa. The Blue Dome is a landmark to an arts and entertainment district.
On the Vickery Station property is a larger building (above) that once served as a garage. That also has been refurbished, and is now used for detailing and washing work for Avis’ rental cars.
Back to the cottage station, Sager noted that “the only modification to the original building is the desk.” The windows and doors are original or were rebuilt in the original specifications. Sager is even having the windows’ interior bronze handles recast.
Sager collaborated a bit with Bill Fernau, who restored another Phillips 66 station on Route 66 in Chandler, Okla., on the project.
The cottage station even contains the original safe. Money was removed by a small door at the bottom of the cylinder.
Another nice touch in the cottage station is the vintage Avis posters that Sager bought on eBay.