Krutsinger Service Station

227 NORTH MAIN STREET

ANOTHER OIL STATION

Old Gardner Home Is Being Moved Away for Purpose

The Chariton Leader, 12 January 1926

One of the old landmarks in Chariton, the Gardner House, located one block north of the northwest corner of the square, is to be supplanted by a new, up-to-date oil station. The building, which belongs to the B. R. Van Dyke estate, is to undergo many changes. The south half of the building, constructed of old native lumber, is being torn down, and the north half, which also contains much old native lumber, will be remodeled and moved to the west part of the lot, where it will face north. A basement will be put under it and when completed it will be a modern cottage.

The front fifty feet of the lot, facing the east, and where the Garner House now stands, has been leased to the Shaffer Oil and Refining Company, but the Deep Rock Petroleum Company will have charge of a new oil station which will be erected on the grounds.

The Gardner House was erected probably in the early 1850s as Mr. N.B. Gardner purchased the property in 1855 of John Edwards, and it has been owned continuously in the family since that time, a period of seventy-five years. After purchasing the residence Mr. Gardner added to the building and it was a commodious structure. He and Mrs. Gardner conducted a boarding and rooming house there for many years. Mrs. Gardner passed away in 1890, but Mr. Gardner and daughter, MInnie, conducted the hostelry until 1896. In this building all the Gardner children, Frank, now deceased, Mrs. Ella Van Dyke, of this city, Mrs. Winnie Wiltsey, who passed away a few years ago, and Dell and Fred Gardner, now of Chicago, all grew to years of maturity. Since the Gardner family ceased to occupy it as a home, it has been conducted by different ones as a boarding and rooming house, but has always been known as the Gardner House.