GASOLINE STATION
East Tremont Avenue and Dock Street
JULY 2, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 141

Gasoline Station, Tenth Avenue and 29th Street, discarded image

During Abbott's years in Europe, gas stations became a common feature of the American landscape, and when she returned in 1929, they fascinated her. She considered them "truly American," reminding her of totem poles. (McQuaid, 368).

Gasoline Pump, file drawing

Abbott photographed two gas stations, one at Tenth Avenue and 29th Street in Manhattan (discarded), and one in the Bronx. The Bronx station was on Westchester Square, just off the newly completed Hutchinson River Parkway. The files for these images include a diagram of an electrified gas pump, which was introduced in 1924, and present statistics on national gas consumption and prices: in 1936, $3 billion was spent on 20 billion gallons of gas at an average cost of 14.11 cents per gallon.

Dock Street no longer intersects Tremont Avenue, but two gas stations are nearby.

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