Soulsby Service Station

Route 66 gave an injured miner a second working life. In 1926, Henry Soulsby left the mines, invested most of his savings in two lots on Mount Olive’s western edge, and built this compact house-with-canopy station just as the new national highway arrived. Stand beneath the canopy and read the family scale of the place: office, pumps, bright Shell colors, and a roof antenna that hints at the business Russell Soulsby ran alongside gasoline sales—radio and television repair.The road moved on before the family did. Interstate 55 bypassed Mount Olive in the late 1950s, leaving the station a mile from the new traffic stream, yet Russell and Ola Soulsby continued serving motorists. Gas sales ended in 1991; oil checks, soda, conversation, and waves to Route 66 travelers lasted until 1993. When Russell died in 1999, his funeral procession passed beneath the canopy one final time. Preservation work later removed vinyl siding, restored the original doors and windows, and returned the building to its postwar appearance. It now operates as a visitor center and small museum. The current place listing shows daily hours of 7:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.; verify before arrival. The reward is intimate: not a corporate relic, but one family’s adaptation, endurance, and goodbye preserved at the roadside. More

Route 66 gave an injured miner a second working life. In 1926, Henry Soulsby left the mines, invested most of his savings in two lots on Mount Olive’s western edge, and built this compact house-with-canopy station just as the new national highway arrived. Stand beneath the canopy and read the family scale of the place: office, pumps, bright Shell colors, and a roof antenna that hints at the business Russell Soulsby ran alongside gasoline sales—radio and television repair.The road moved on before the family did. Interstate 55 bypassed Mount Olive in the late 1950s, leaving the station a mile from the new traffic stream, yet Russell and Ola Soulsby continued serving motorists. Gas sales ended in 1991; oil checks, soda, conversation, and waves to Route 66 travelers lasted until 1993. When Russell died in 1999, his funeral procession passed beneath the canopy one final time. Preservation work later removed vinyl siding, restored the original doors and windows, and returned the building to its postwar appearance. It now operates as a visitor center and small museum. The current place listing shows daily hours of 7:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.; verify before arrival. The reward is intimate: not a corporate relic, but one family’s adaptation, endurance, and goodbye preserved at the roadside. More