Today, the early morning lines stretch almost onto Main Street as motorists line up at the Daylight Donuts drive-through window. There were lines there as well, almost a century ago, but it wasn’t for glazed donuts or apple fritters; the lines were there to fill up cars and trucks.
Ben Laws Service Station was the first “modern” gas station in Riverton.
It opened in 1932, with Ben Laws, an early entrepreneur, pulling out all the stops in an early foreshadowing of the full-service gas stations that dominated small towns and big cities alike from the late 1940s until the 1980s.
Full service meant just that with Ben Laws.
Ben built his station on the corner of 7th and Main, on property once held by St. James Episcopal Church, just two blocks to the north on Park.
St. James’ Episcopal Church was the first church built in Riverton. When the town was being platted, Reverend John Roberts entered the drawing for town lots. He claimed the third lot from the corner of Seventh and Main on the north side of Main Street. On this lot, Reverend Roberts built a small frame church with funds donated by Mrs. Baird Sumner Cooper of Pennsylvania.
The church was completed in 1907. Reverend Roberts held services there once a month until October 3, 1913.
By 1917, a small brick rectory was built next to the church.
In 1928, Ben Laws purchased the lot on Main Street.
Ben Laws was a hard charger. Born in 1894, he rode the crest of the transition from the days of the “Old West” to modern life in Wyoming.
He came to Riverton as a young man and saw the opportunities that the rising “car culture” offered an enterprising businessman.
City Garage was the standard in Riverton. It offered gasoline, kerosene, motor oil, tires, and had mechanics on duty that could handle just about any situation the bewildering variety of dozens and dozens of different makes and models of 1920s era cars could offer.
Ben saw more than just fuel, tires, and a mechanic able to swap out a failed fuel pump or punctured radiator.
Ben’s partner in life was Helen Marie Keating. The couple had two children, Benjamin Arthur Jr., born in 1921, and Jack, born in 1924.
Riverton Review – October 2, 1924
“Mr. and Mrs. Ben Laws are the happy parents of a 10½ pound baby boy, born last Thursday. In spite of the fact that this is Ben’s second son, Daddy almost forgot about the gas and oil market, but in view of the circumstances Texaco customers were patient with the proud papa who insisted upon telling every all about the wonderful youngster, whose name probably will be Jack.”
Tragically, Jack died of an illness when he was just four years old in 1928.
Ben was a veteran of the “Great War,” serving with the U.S. Army in France during World War I. He was active in the American Legion his entire life. He was also a gifted athlete. As a young man, he won the city tennis championship, routinely won at horseshoes in city park, and was a stellar shortstop for the Riverton Men’s Baseball Team.
Town baseball was a huge spectator event in the 1920s. Riverton routinely played Shoshoni, Lander, and teams from Wolton, Douglas, and Moneta that arrived in town on the Chicago North Western.
Riverton Review, June 8, 1921
RIVERTON — SHOSHONI
“Shoshoni baseball players went home Sunday evening fully convinced that they know nothing about the great American game. The Riverton team brought this fact home to them on Sunday on the local grounds when they shut out the visitors with a score of 15 to 0. The game was not even fair practice for the Riverton boys and to comment on individual playing is out of the question for no one had an opportunity to show himself on the Riverton team. Ben Laws sent the ball far into a neighboring field on time and leisurely strolled around the bases to home. He made another good three-base hit and further surprised the Shoshoni boys with his wicked whip to second base or any other part of the field where the ball was needed in a hurry.”
Ben offered services that no one else in Wyoming dreamed of when he opened his station.
Gas stations were all full service before the 1970s, with an attendant sprinting out to check your oil, the fluid level in your radiator, the tire pressure, and eagerly washing your windshield. All this while paying 20 cents a gallon for leaded gasoline.
Ben Laws Service Station offered a full-service wash bay with the newest innovation. A high-pressure water and soap was done by one of his station attendants. There was a tire repair station where men patched holes in tubes, repaired damage to tires and balanced the tires all in one quick sequence in one of the station’s heated bays.
It’s commonplace at tire shops today, but was so innovative that it was the talk of the town in Riverton during the 1930s. Similar shops in Lander and Shoshoni took notice and “upped” their game to match the service that Ben provided.
Riverton Review, July 10, 1931
ANOTHER STEP
“In the progress of Riverton was the completion this week of Ben Laws Service Station at the corner of Seventh and Main Street, the most modern station in Fremont County. Although the formal opening of the station will not be held for another two weeks (watch for an announcement in The Review) the station will open for business Thursday. Formal opening is being delayed until all the modernistic station equipment arrives. Review Photo-Engraving.”
They’re gone today, but motorists in the 1960s and 70s clearly remember the bell sounding inside the service station office as their car rolled over a cable in the parking lot. The innovation let the station attendant know there was a customer at the pumps. Ben Laws was the first one to have this system at a service station in Fremont County.
Riverton Review – March 15, 1934
Pump Service
“When you drive to our pumps for a fill of gas or oil you will receive the best possible service. Attendants will check the oil, fill the radiator, test, and, if necessary, fill the battery, check your tires and wash the windows and headlight lens. Here you have your choice of Mobilgas Special, the premium gasoline; Mobilgas, the regular or Nyco, a quality product at an economy price. Mobiloil of the correct grade for your motor offers the utmost in engine lubrication. Only pure distilled water is used for the battery. Our free air service is equipped with the most modern pressure gauges that guard against over or under inflation of your tires.”
No Waiting!
When You Drive Up To Our Pumps A Signal Is Automatically Sounded
To Summon The Attendant.
Service stations were tied to national gasoline brands. In Wyoming, Mobil, Texaco and Skelly were all major franchises. Skelly stations dominated the Midwest from Missouri to Casper, Wyoming.
Ben Laws offered Mobil gasoline originally, but in 1928, he had a better venture. He not only offered Texaco gasoline, but he also became the bulk plant supplier for stations across Fremont County. Laws fuel trucks ran the Yellowstone Highway to Dubois, stopping at Crowheart on the way to stations in the High Country. His fuel trucks ran to Shoshoni, Pavillion, and to the Beaver Station at the top of Beaver Rim at Hailey, owned by Ed Wynn.
Ben Laws’ fuel trucks delivered gasoline to the Lander Auto Company, the Overland Garage, and the City Garage and Machine Shop in Lander. They had two stops on the Wind River Reservation at the Post Trading Company in Ft. Washakie and the Wind River Commercial Company at the Wind River Agency.
He delivered fuel to his rivals in Riverton as well, with weekly stops at the Teton Auto Company, Hoffman Tire and Battery shop, Van Ness Auto Service, and the Teton Service Station that eventually became Teepee Gas.
The Orange and Blue Cottage Camp had a station in Shoshoni as did the Shawver Service Station.
His busiest route started in Pavillion at the A.M. Trego Station, with stops at the Morton Mercantile Company and the Crowheart Store before delivering to an amazing five stations in Dubois.
He ran the short 10 miles to Arapaho and the H.H Heise Station a couple of times a month.
His longest route took the fuel truck to a pair of stations near Elk Mountain in Carbon County.
Texaco was a rapidly expanding company out of Beaumont, Texas. The company gathered momentum and became the largest supplier of gasoline in America. By the onset of World War II, there were almost 13,000 Texaco stations in every one of the then 48 states.
Ben rode the crest of the Texaco expansion and became more than just a service station on Main Street in Riverton. He made a “cut” on every gallon of Texaco gasoline sold in Fremont County.
The cash flow from the satellite Texaco stations he supplied was excellent, but Ben was a loyal local businessman with a strong sense of community and a major supporter of Riverton.
Ben had service trucks traveling to farms and rescuing stranded motorists in the midst of winter blizzards and during blazing summer heat. His crews were available 24/7 at just the hint of trouble.
Ben Laws remained a fixture on Main Street through the 1950s. In early 1960, Ben’s health began to fail.
He lost his beloved Helen on September 30, 1958; she was just 62 years old.
His interest faded a bit with the loss of Helen.
Ben passed on October 26, 1962. He was 68 years old.
Ben and Helen are buried side by side at Riverton’s Mountain View Cemetery.
Ben Laws was a man of his times. An entrepreneur, a man who answered the call when his country needed him, and a man who met the needs of the community he called home.
The station was renovated a few times. During the high tide of the video rental business, it was home to Town and Country Video Rentals in the 1980s, but it gradually transformed into one of the business anchors on Riverton’s Main Street, Daylight Donuts.
If you listen closely while drinking coffee and downing a sweet roll, you might just hear the twinkling of bells as another car crosses the line into position at one of the Texaco pumps.