June 24, 2019—Brothers Tony and Tyler Baumann discovered a historic 1930s Texaco station in Mankato, Minn., and opened a repair shop at the old building soon after, reports newsobserver.com.
"To keep the Old Town feel of the building, we went through a lot of work just to keep it as original or close to what it was," Tyler Baumann told The Free Press. "There were probably a couple hundred hours just in the office here fixing windows and doors."
The neighbors took notice of the new owners as they were busy spending 2018 preparing the new shop for opening. The Washington Park Neighborhood Association gave them their "yard of the week" award last summer. After a long summer day spent clearing out five trailers worth of old boxes and furniture, a neighbor stopped by for a visit. It turns out his grandfather ran the Texaco station at that location back in the 1930s, and he had some old photos and memorabilia from back then to share with them, reports newsobserver.com.
"Since then I've gained a lot of interest in vintage gas pumps," Tony Baumann said. "The logo spiraled into that. It's obviously based off of the Texaco logo they used in that era."
They named the business Old Town Garage in homage of the historic preservation in Old Town Mankato, renovating with the aim of preserving that element of service station history. The sign, which stands in front of the building, was heavily influenced from the old 1930s Texaco logo with the help of a family friend.
Along with the sign, historic memorabilia from the 1930s decorates the front office of the building. The business, which officially opened earlier this year, contains three auto bays for three cars, one of which is the original hoist from the original service station.
"We're getting it functioning again," Tony Baumann said. "It dates back to 1932. It works really good for SUVs."
