Mahan's Filling Station

Mahan’s Filling Station in Springfield, Illinois is a gas station on the move. While the building has seen many owners, many businesses, and many locations, over the years, it’s been a popular stop for travelers since the early 1900s.

This tiny service station was built by Butler Manufacturing and opened in 1917, making it one of the oldest in the state. In the 1930s Henry Mahan moved the station to Middleton, on Route 136 between Easton and Havana, and ran it until he eventually left to serve in the United States Army in WWII.

Over the years Mahan’s Filling Station was a Texaco Station, a Marathon, and Philips 66 Station before being converted into a museum by Bill Shea Sr. and his wife Helen when they purchased the property to add as a star attraction at their Shea Gas Station museum in 2000. There they proudly displayed an eclectic collection of vintage gas station memorabilia, including old gas pumps, wooden phone booths, signs, photos, and more.

After Shea passed away in 2013, Jeff Fulgenzi purchased the old station at auction and it was moved 21 miles to sit beside Fulgenzi’s Pizza & Pasta. The vintage station has since been fully restored and now serves as a roadside attraction for all to see.

Fulgenzi’s is located on a property that itself has deep ties to Route 66, once being home to multiple hotels (including the Fairway Motel) and a car painting business. And the pizza shop originally opened in 1979 as Custard Castle, a popular stop for travelers on The Mother Road. So Mahan’s Filling Station fits right into its new Route 66 home.

Find Mahan’s Filling Station next to Fulgenzi’s Pizza & Pasta on Route 66, right across from the Illinois State Fairgrounds where you can also see the Route 66 Experience, the Abraham Lincoln Railsplitter Statue, and Slide Down 66.

Photos of Mahan’s Filling Station in Springfield, Illinois