Longmire Historic Tour: Service Station Exhibit Panel

This historic service station once provided gas for early visitors traveling by automobile.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Longmire

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Title: Longmire Service Station

Main Text
It has not always been easy to get to Mount Rainier. Early visitors reached the park by horse or carriage over rough, often muddy, roads. Improved roads and the arrival of the first automobile in 1907 simplified access to the mountain experience. In fact, Mount Rainer was selected as the first national park to experiment with automobile access. 

This building, constructed in 1929, was essential to those ealy motorists. It had gas pumps styled in the manner of the time period, with a sheltered bay connecting to a sales and information office. The second floor contains an apartment reached by a rear staircase. 

Today, the service station portrays the history of travel in the park, and serves as an example of the National Park Service's rustic style of architecture. 

Exhibit Panel Description
The main text against a green background fills the top half of the small, vertically-oriented exhibit panel. The bottom half of the exhibit panel is filled with a black-and-white historic photo of the service station. The service station is a small wood log building with a gabled roof extending over the front of the building to cover a narrow drive through and two tall cylindrical gas pumps set into a stone base. In the photo, a man is pumping gas into an early model automobile parked under the roof of the service station. 

Visit This Exhibit Panel
The Longmire Service Station exhibit panel is part of the Longmire Historic District Walking Tour. It is located at the junction of the path that leads from the Longmire Museum and the side road that leads to the front of the service station. Longmire is open year-round, but the exhibit panels are removed during the winter. However, you can still pick up a Longmire Historic District Walking Tour map at the Longmire Museum and view the buildings in winter.