Was This Lansing’s First Gas Station?
In 1923, Elmer & Benjamin Pulver built – what is believed to be – the first gas station in Lansing. It was constructed at 127 W. Grand River Avenue and still stands, now with its own Historical Marker.
The Pulver Brothers Sinclair Oil Company owned four Lansing gas stations by 1924, and eventually had eight stations.
The Pulvers founded their company in the early 1920s, built their first one in 1923, and kept it running until it was sold in 1938. It continued as a gas station until 1953, when it was re-sold and used as a dry cleaners. It closed in 1956 and the little building sat empty until 2009.
In 2011 it became a drive-thru coffee shop, closed in 2014, and opened again in 2016 as an ice cream parlor.
Today it sits on the corner of avenues W. Cesar E. Chavez and N. Capitol. Stop by and check out the marker.
Lansing's First Gas Station
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