Belva gas station to celebrate century of service
Sep. 30—BELVA — A small gas station with a big tradition of full-time service to customers in Fayette County and the surrounding area will celebrate a milestone this weekend.
Brown's Service Station, located in Belva since 1922, will stage its 100th anniversary celebration on Sunday, Oct. 2 from noon to 4 p.m. Among the activities will be food, music with Justin Perry, face painting, clogging and a raffle drawing.
According to owner Adam Brown and his wife, Tammy, Adam's grandfather, Malburn Walton Brown, opened the business in 1922, about one-half a mile from the current location along W.Va. Rte. 39.
"The contract was with Humble Oil, the Standard Oil," Tammy said in a history she compiled. "Route 39 was a dirt road at this time, and MW would also repair wheels on horse drawn buggies."
He moved to the present location in 1927. The station remains active today as one of the remaining full-service gas stations in West Virginia, and it has remained standing through several floods (with a bolted-down approach preventing the structure from washing away).
"Gasoline would be delivered in 55-gallon drums by train to Swiss, and truck them down to the station," according to the business history. "He would transfer the gasoline into the 500-gallon underground tank, then pump it into the 10-gallon gravity-fed cylinder gas pump and release it into the vehicle."
There was no gasoline tax at the time, she said.
The elder Brown would also do mechanic work. According to the history, Ford Motor Company in Detroit, Mich., had a contract to ship Model T cars by rail to Belva. "The fenders were attached, and electrical headlights were wired, receiving $4.50 per car for five years. The cars were then driven to Campbell Ford Company in Summersville to sell."
Being a dirt road at the time, the story goes that one person had eight flat tires simply traveling to Gauley Bridge. That was at a time, she said, when a drive that now takes five minutes took 45.
The company continued to chug along, and it remained a family business. In the mid-1960s, MW Brown turned the station over to his son, Jarrell, who had been working in the mines. Standard Oil eventually merged into Esso and then Exxon in the 1970s. In the fall of 1979, Jarrell's son, Adam, started running the business just out of high school. He's still at the helm, and his son, Austin, joined the operation about 20 years ago.
"We've done well with it," said Adam Brown. "It's a hole in the wall family business (with five employees). We've just been fortunate to keep it going."
"It was slow when I took it over, because there were a lot of gas stations everywhere," he recalled. "But they were closing at the time. We survived some way. It's built up a lot."
An uptick in the coal industry back in the day meant good fortune for the company's gas business. Over the years, Brown's has sold gasoline, diesel, propane and kerosene, and the station has strengthened the availability of fuel pumps.
When its status as a gas vendor was being assessed in 1987 as contracts were up for renewal, Brown's was deemed to be "too small of an operation and we weren't set up like they wanted" to sell their product, said Adam. "But that was the best thing that ever happened (to the business). I thought it was the worst at the time, but I got more competitive because I'm an independent and not branded. I can buy cheaper gasoline.
"It's worked out better."
A huge asset was added to the business repertoire in the 1990s in the form of a tire center. "I moved back into tires," he said, adding that tire sales make up a good percentage of the overall business.
"Adam started selling tires, built a tire shop, and sales increased," said Tammy, who noted the business keeps about 2,000 tires in stock, with three companies delivering daily.
The station employees don't do mechanical work but do perform oil changes.
He and the other employees "just stick with it, six days a week," said Adam. "It's just something I started and got used to and never changed it.
"A small business, it takes a lot of your time. That's fine, it makes it work."
Community support and interaction is a big key to success, he said. "We know most of our customers by name. They know we're here. We're always there. We keep going when the power's off, selling gas."
"The community has supported us tremendously," Tammy Brown said. "And for that we are very thankful.
"We appreciate their business, and they appreciate the full service that's given, checking their oil, and cleaning the windshields. There are still a few 90-year-old customers that have done business there since Adam's grandpa, MW Brown, ran it. Adam's son, Austin, is working there now.
"There could be more changes made, but hopefully for many years to come, you can stop at Brown's Service Station for your full service."
Brown's Service Station also boasts a companion building called The Depot, an old train depot. It houses such vintage vehicles as a 1959 Corvette, as well as other antique items. "We love the character (the vintage items) have," said Tammy Brown. "We love old buildings; we love old structures ..."
"I enjoy my job," said Adam, 61. "Interacting with people and being with people one on one. Like I said, we know most everybody."
The business has allowed for a long period of working alongside his grandfather, who passed away in 1982, his father, who passed in 2005, and his son, Austin. "I worked with my dad and grandfather, and you don't (always) see eye to eye. But it's still good."
"I grew with it (the business)," he added. "I was young. The business grew as I grew. We learned together."
And the full-service model has always remained in place. "We didn't change as much (away from full-service)," said Brown. "Everybody else quit, we didn't. That's the way it was started back in '22.
"They (customers) appreciate it. But being competitive is the bottom line. You never know how anything is going to go. Just go out and do the best you can and be honest."
Email: skeenan@register-herald.com or follow on Twitter @gb_scribe
