Ambler / Becker vintage gas station

It’s not often that we describe a gas station as adorable, but it’s not often a gas station has hanging baskets of flowers, windows framed by shutters and a cheery green and white clapboard office and workshop with flower boxes and a porthole window.

You’ll find this adorable Ambler/ Becker vintage Texaco station at the intersection of Old Route 66 and Illinois Route 17 in the tiny town of Dwight Illinois.

Incredibly, this adorable site (have we mentioned its adorable?) was a working gas station until 1999, making it the longest functioning gas station along route 66. After it closed it underwent a major and sympathetic restoration, and in 2007 it re-opened as a route 66 visitor center and informal museum. There are vintage gas pumps and billboards, you can look into the workshop and office and even add a pin to their map celebrating your hometown (wow, there are a lot of Australians who make the route 66 pilgrimage!)

A lovely docent chatted to us about the old days and showed us around the workshop when we visited. The office is a treasure trove of vintage memorabilia, from its pot belly stove and vintage cash register to its battered desk and chair littered with vintage receipts, pop bottles and Texaco ephemera.

This homey gas station, in the house and canopy style of architecture also features restrooms and a drive through canopy. The decrepit building beside the gas station used to house a commercial icehouse.

The lovely Ambler/ Becker gas station is owned by the City of Dwight and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

It’s a lovely spot to stretch your legs, chat to some locals, and take advantage of the Route 66 photo op that sits beside the gas station.

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Mid-West USA No.14 -last visited October 2024