Automobiles have played an oversized role in the Pipes Family history. In 1919, when cars were still an uncommon sight on the roads of St. Louis, our ancestor Charles Martin Burmeister opened the first Texaco-branded “service station” in the city. The original building (pictured above, lower right) was later expanded to include a garage that offered repair services in addition to the sale of gasoline and oil. Despite some very lean times during the Great Depression, and World War II, our family owned and operated the station until 1948.
Although it has long since been abandoned, the building still stands at the corner of 21st and Angelica Streets in North St. Louis.
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