2009 Welcome to Wise.indd - Wise County Messenger

DECATUR Petrified Wood Station
MESSENGER PHOTO BY JOE DUTY
PETRIFIED WOOD STATION
Almost 20 years have passed since the little gas station along business U.S. 287/81 in
Decatur serviced its last vehicle. But, not a day goes by that someone doesn’t stop to study the
unique masonry and read the history
of the Petrified Wood Station.
Owned by Jim and Nancy Rosendahl,
the station was built by Nancy’s
grandfather, E.F. Boydston, at a time
when people were straddling the line
of the horse and wagon and automobile
eras. Nancy’s father, Nolan
Boydston, began working at the station
when he was 10 and retired from
the station in 1989.
“If this building could speak, it
would tell us a lot of stories,” Jim said.
“This went through the Great Depression,
World War II, Korea, Vietnam.
This preserves a very small piece of
history from the 20th Century.”
E.F. Boydston first bought the land
at Hale Street and business U.S.
81/287 for $400 in 1927 and constructed
a shed and Texaco gas station
at the location, naming it Texas
Tourist Court. Travelers stopped and
camped in the tourist camp area located
behind the station. Cabins were
built behind the station in 1931 that
travelers could rent for $1.35 a night,
a price that included breakfast in the
morning. The Texas Lunchroom, a
one-room wooden building, was built
in 1929.
With the number of gas stations
in Texas and the nation increasing
steadily with the number of automobiles
on the road, Nolan decided the
station needed a little more personal-
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