Drive-in gas stations weren’t just about fuel: They helped create American driving culture. The first drive-in service station opened in Pennsylvania in 1913. American motorists had been able to pump their own gas at filling stations since 1905, but those were little more than a pump at the curbside. Before that, motorists bought gasoline in cans from places like pharmacies and blacksmith shops and filled up themselves. With the opening of the first service station in Pittsburgh, a cultural institution was born. Here we celebrate some of the iconography from the heyday of full service.
