The historic Marathon station in Miami, Oklahoma, on old Route 66 will be auctioned at 9 a.m. April 8.
The station, built in 1929, sits at 331 S. Main St., part of the oldest alignment of Route 66 in Miami. That segment leads to the so-called 9-foot-wide Sidewalk Highway on the south edge of town.
Cindy Dees, vice president of marketing for Williams & Williams Real Estate Auctions, wrote in an email:
The gas station … features Neoclassical architectural and has been showcased in several books devoted to the study and preservation or historic gas stations.
On any day, it’s common to see visitors from around the world taking pictures in front of the building, which is adorned with authentic globed gas pumps.
Over the years the building has been used for retail services but most recently has been part retail/souvenir and part museum to showcase the dozens of fuel signs and memorabilia that adorns each wall inside.
The seller has worked meticulously over the last several years on the restoration of the building and will be selling the property to the highest bidder, without reserve. The collectibles, including a pinball machine, will also sell at auction after the real estate.
You can see the Marathon gas station for yourself during a public viewing on Thursday, March 24th from 11 to 2 p.m..
The building is 320 square feet. More about the listing may be found here.
According to the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, the station originally was built by Transcontinental Oil Co. and was leased by a local family for $40 a month. Marathon bought the property not long after that. Until recently, the station was used as a beauty salon. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
(Image of the Marathon station in Miami, Oklahoma, courtesy of Cindy Dees)