Cars began to appear in Seattle in the early 1900s but it wasn’t until the 1920s that cars became affordable and the numbers of them increased. Companies such as the Golden Rule Bakery in Fremont, acquired fleets of vehicles to use for deliveries. The rise in car use in Seattle naturally caused an increase in gas stations along arterial streets like Stone Way.
In the 1930s the gas station at 3401 Stone Way, pictured here, was operated by Olaf Johnson, an immigrant from Norway. He lived in the Fremont Hotel, which was lodgings on the second floor of the Fremont Building at 3429 Fremont Avenue (the same building that is there today). Mr. Johnson would have taken his meals at any of the nearby cafes such as the Fremont Cafe at 702 North 34th Street.
In about 1940 another immigrant, William Henry Batten from England, acquired this business and renamed it the Cheerio Service Station. Mr. Batten, born in 1889 in Cornwall, had served with the British Army in the First World War, 1914-1918. Mr. Batten may have wanted to change his life and make a fresh start after the war. He & his wife immigrated to the USA in 1920 and he worked as an auto mechanic.
At the onset of the USA’s entry into the Second World War, in 1942 Mr. Batten was required to fill out a draft card, even though he was 53 years old and not expected to serve in the war. Along with the description of his height & weight, on the draft registration card it was noted that Mr. Batten had a bullet crease along the left side of his head, an indication of a close call during the First World War.
In the 1950s a younger man, Eskil Hannus, helped run the Cheerio Service Station & mechanic shop. Mr. Hannus was born in Idaho in 1914, of parents who had immigrated from Finland.
Today at this site is Stoneway Court line retail shops.
Sources:
Genealogy & City Directory listings.
HistoryLink Essay #957, “First Automobile Arrives in Seattle on July 23, 1900,” by Greg Lange, 1999.