Piedmont at Wertz Ave

See larger photo HERE

Another rare never before published Carey photo Circa 1927.  This time it's Piedmont Road right around the corner from Wertz Ave.  At one time, Kanawha St (now Kanawha Blvd) met Piedmont Rd at this location.  This is the reason for all the advertising.  The federal government took a photo of this same location, (see below)  but no one today knew exactly where it was,  only that it was shot "at the Eastern city limits".  A "Standard Oil" station is to the right in the photo and it stood on the corner of Piedmont & Wertz.  The building to the left was E.J. Howard Tires.  Many years later this would become a local neighborhood store that was owned by Charleston policeman and his wife.  All the kids in the neighborhood called it "Mrs Rankins Store". There is a road  up on the hill in the photo if you look closely. It actually travels between Rankins Store and the building behind it.  That's McKee Ave. It was diverted to Wertz Ave when the Interstate came through. FINALLY:  The buildings on the left were only a hundred yards or so from what would later be the Gold Dome Drive In.

Here is the photo that the government took several years later.

Standard Oil has now become Esso.  The house in the front has been torn down.  At one time, Piedmont Rd was a thoroughfare through Charleston, because it was a straight shot all the way to the West Side, while most other streets in the city were dog legs.  Rt 60 dumped onto this intersection back in the day also.

This photo was taken in the 50s from the opposite direction of the first photo at the top of this page.

Sidebars:

E.J Howard

Notice the address as "Kanawha Street and Piedmont Road.

Howards "Service Station" had one gas pump, as you can see in the photo.

Amoco had two gasolines back in the day: One was "American Strate" which was straight gasoline without additives.  This was the cheaper of the two.  The other was "Amoco", which was the more expensive.

Today

Top photo courtesy of Joe Cary.

 

Back