The historic Threatt Filling Station near Luther, Oklahoma, may open to the public as an interpretive center as soon as June, according to its owner.
Edward Threatt, an owner of the station, gave the tentative date during an interview with KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City.
Threatt said renovating the long-closed business encountered some setbacks in recent years, including three instances of vandalism, the rising costs of materials and labor issues.
Here’s the report by the station:
In recent years, the station has received grants from the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, plus a fundraiser led by Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell. The Threatt station in 2021 was named to the list of America’s Most Endangered Places.
Built by Allen Threatt in 1915, the gas station remains one of the few surviving Black-owned businesses along Route 66. The bungalow-style station made of rock from the Threatt farm’s quarry was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
The Threatt Filling Station operated until the early 1960s or ’70s, when it was converted into living quarters.
Strangely, the Threatt station never was listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book, despite it being Black-owned for many years.
(Image of the Threatt Filling Station in 2014 by Melodbit via Wikimedia Commons)
I talked to the Threatt’s about the station never being in the Green Book, as it intrigued me also. The general thinking is that it wasn’t listed because it was so well-known in the region – and, being on 66 out there by itself on such a highly traveled corridor, it was impossible to miss.