This view looking northwest across Denver Avenue at 9th Street shows the businesses belonging to James Stevenson and Edith Belle (Wilcox) Penfold. Their businesses included the filling station on the southwest corner of Denver and 9th, and opposite that corner to the north stood their restaurant, at one point in time called a “Luncheonette,” a small grocery store and a “cottage camp,” which was the first motel in Fort Lupton. James and Edith can be seen standing in front of their restaurant. Note the root beer stand in the shape of a barrel sitting to the right.
James, whom I will refer to hereafter as J.S., was born in Iowa in 1874 to James William “JW” and Emily Jane “Emma” (Stevenson) Penfold. Edith was a Pennsylvanian born in 1875 to Byron Lord Wilcox, a Civil War veteran of the 137th Pennsylvania Infantry, and Sofia Annetta “Nettie” (Parrish) Wilcox. J.S. and Edith were married in Tecumseh, Nebraska, on July 17, 1894. Their first home was in Burlington, CO, where J.S. worked for his father in the flour milling business. When his father decided to tear down the mill, move it to Fort Morgan and rebuild it into a larger mill, J.S. and Edith followed.
In 1915, J.S., Edith and family moved to Longmont, where J.S. became the proprietor of the Central Filling Station at 5th and Main. The family moved to Fort Lupton around 1920. J.S. and Edith had five children: Walter Eugene; Leila Annetta; Mabel; Zelma Mae, who died at the age of 1; and James Leslie.
The service station you see here probably first operated under the name “Penfold Brothers,” but became the “Penfold Service Station” in 1922. That same year, according to an article in the National Petroleum News, J.S. built another service station in Hudson.
The sign on the peak of the station’s roof touting “Powerine Gas” and “Power-Lube Oil,” a Powerine product, tells me J.S. bought his products from the Powerine Company refinery in Denver. Established in 1913, this refinery operated until about 1945, when it was bought out by Penola, a subsidiary of Jersey Standard. One hat worn by Penfold was that of an “oil jobber,” meaning he purchased gasoline and other oil products directly from a refinery, in this case, Powerine, and then resold them to other service station owners and the public. His customer base is reflected in the terms “Wholesale” & “Retail” on his roof sign. A fellow Fort Lupton jobber and service station operator was Ora Putnam, whose Putnam Oil Company service station sat on the northwest corner of Denver Avenue and First Street (Highway 52).
On Sunday, July 25th, 1954, J.S. and Edith celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at their home in Fort Lupton. The high regard in which they were held is evidenced by the 125 friends and relatives who signed their guest book that day.
In 1946, the Penfolds sold their business to Ruben E. Herbst, a Lupton resident and pressman for the Greeley Tribune. Herbst operated the business while continuing to work for the Tribune, as his health permitted, until his death in 1968. Under his operation, he named the cottages the Fort Lupton Motel and the store the “Pay N’ Pack.” As I remember, he put the root beer barrel on the roof of the store, and it made a good attention-grabber. Herbst’s obituary, in reporting his purchase of the Penfold businesses, makes reference to the “trailer court.” That may be a reference to what is now the mobile home park at 10th and Denver Avenue. Today the “House of Smoke” sits where the filling station was, and the structures which made up the restaurant, grocery store and motel now appear to be apartments.
J.S. Penfold died in July of 1955 at age 81, and Edith died in May of 1968 at age 92. Their remains are interred at Hillside Cemetery.
REFERENCES:
- “Crossroads in Eden: Development of Fort Lupton,” by Adam Thomas, October 2003 at http://co-fortlupton.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/398/Crossroads-to-Eden?bidId=
- “The Denver Powerine Company” dated April 1, 2006, Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk at https://www.oldgas.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92947
- “Girl Who Eloped with Teller Once Lived in Longmont,” The (Longmont) Daily Times dated August 17, 1921, Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection at
https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=TDT19210817-01.2.2&srpos=2&e=——-en-20–1–img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-girl+who+eloped+with+teller——-0—— - Greeley Tribune dated 1968
- “Here and There,” National Petroleum News, dated November 1, 1922, at https://books.google.com/books?id=fA0_AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA4-PA35&lpg=RA4-PA35&dq=%22penfold%22+filling+station+national+petroleum+news&source=bl&ots=W9mrNgQ4eC&sig=ACfU3U36AbKlI_RqoxeaOivqrVh1m0LvFQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjMs56Xq9v4AhXdJjQIHcXVC3gQ6AF6BAgcEAM#v=onepage&q=%22penfold%22%20filling%20station%20national%20petroleum%20news&f=false
- “Jobber,” wiki PEI at https://www.pei.org/wiki/jobber
- “J.S. Penfold Funeral at Lupton Wed.,” Greeley Tribune dated August 2, 1955, www.newspapers.com at https://www.newspapers.com/image/25079052/?terms=penfold&match=1
- Penfold/Teagarden Family Tree (www.ancestry.com )
- “Penfolds Have 60th Anniversary,” Greeley Tribune dated July 28, 1954, www.newspapers.com at https://www.newspapers.com/image/25022470/?terms=penfold&match=1
- RogerPhillipsTree (www.ancestry.com )
- “Roster of Colorado Oil Jobbers,” volume 11 of 1922 Oil News at https://books.google.com/books?id=qqJk125u7RIC&pg=RA13-PA30&lpg=RA13-PA30&dq=%22penfold%22+filling+station+national+petroleum+news&source=bl&ots=dlWysAz04h&sig=ACfU3U2QeY8hvrmdB9ehe8wE6vGn9MLFNw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjMs56Xq9v4AhXdJjQIHcXVC3gQ6AF6BAgdEAM#v=onepage&q=%22penfold%22%20filling%20station%20national%20petroleum%20news&f=false
- 1900 Burlington Census (www.ancestry.com )
- 1900 and 1940 Federal Censuses (www.ancestry.com
- 1918 Longmont City Directory (www.ancestry.com )
- 1930 Fort Lupton Census (www.ancestry.com )
