When Henry Matthews built this service station in 1931 during the Great Depression, he had two ideas in mind. The first was to build a new 1930s box-style service station that would attract customers along the Central Dixie Highway. The second reason was that he was getting married and needed a home close to his business, so he added a second floor to the building and made it an apartment. During the Great Depression additional revenue streams needed to be explored in addition to gas, so Henry added service and repairs and marketed car tires, batteries, and accessories. Double display windows in front allowed Henry to see when customers arrived at the station. Today those double windows allow visitors to enjoy a World War II military exhibit and a depression-era petrol exhibit.