Mount Ida Cities Service Filling Station

The Mount Ida Cities Service Filling Station at 204 Whittington Street in downtown Mount Ida (Montgomery County) was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 19, 2001. It was used as a location to sell gasoline for more than forty years, closing in 1966.

By the mid-1920s, enough automobiles were present in Montgomery County to support a filling station. The station was likely constructed in 1925, as the value of the lot significantly increased that year. The station operated as an independent institution until 1929, when it was leased by Louisiana Oil Refining Company. This company was part of a family of Cities Service companies, which gave the station its name. Cities Service later became known as Citgo. The station sold gasoline procured from the Arkansas Oil Company. Operating as a gas station until 1966, the building held a variety of other businesses over the years. The tanks at the station were removed from the station in the mid-1980s. By 2019, it was owned by the nursing home located across the street, which used the site as a parking area.

The building faces southeast and is located on a curve on Whittington Street that intersects West Street. The entire structure includes a small building and a car canopy under a single roof. It rests on a continuous concrete foundation. The car canopy is located close to the street, with the building behind it on the northwestern corner of the structure. The building is a brick-covered, wooden-framed structure. At an unknown date, the exterior of the building was covered with a thin stucco. The car canopy is supported by two brick pillars set on piers. The ceiling of the car canopy is pressed tin. A metal roof covers the entire building, and the rafter tails are exposed along all four edges of the structure.

The front of the building facing the car canopy has a centrally located door topped with a single-paned transom. Large four-paned windows are located on each side of the door. The southwestern side of the building includes a six-light window with an air-conditioning unit installed. A small out building was placed behind the main structure around 2000.

The building is a good representation of an early twentieth-century gas station.

For additional information:
“Mount Ida Cities Service Filling Station.” National Register for Historic Places registration form. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Office, Little Rock, Arkansas. Online at http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/MN0045.nr.pdf (accessed May 14, 2020).

David Sesser
Henderson State University