If you were to travel on Route 66 in the early 1900s, you probably passed the Threatt Filling Station, a family-owned gas station for Black travelers traversing the famous route from Chicago to Southern California.
But after closing in the 1970s, the station eventually fell into disrepair. Now the Threatt family is looking to revitalize and preserve it.
“It’s a part of Black history within the state of Oklahoma,” Ed Threatt said. “For him to acquire 160 acres of land in the Jim Crow era, that’s no small feat.”
“In a state that was racially segregated, had many sundown towns, had neighborhoods that were deeded with restrictions on racial ownership, the Threatt family had a successful farm and business through the 20th century,” she said. “As a location for Black travelers, the Threatt Filling Station was critical.”
The Threatt family homesteaded in the area when land was opened in 1889 and land allotments had been established. They raised crops on the farm, sold sandstone from the quarry, and then opened and operated the filling station and its associated businesses. But according to Ozan, the property’s importance reverberated far beyond Oklahoma.
Jennifer Sandy, field director for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, agreed. She noted that a 1939 newspaper clipping indicates the Threatt Filling Station may have been the only “Negro station” in the U.S. at the time, and it was likely the only Black-owned filling station on Route 66.
“[The] impressive variety of services demonstrates a creative entrepreneurial spirit to succeed at a time when being Black and operating a successful business on Route 66 was not common,” Sandy said in an email.
“The complex represents the power of Black entrepreneurship and family stewardship through generations. It helps illuminate important but underrepresented stories of life along iconic Route 66,” Sandy said. Since the first list was issued in 1988, it has helped to save a diverse range of places that tell the American story, including Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay, Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, the soaring TWA Terminal at New York’s JFK Airport, and cultural landscapes like Bears Ears in Utah.
Though the Threatt Family is still raising funds, they hope to start restoration work this year, ultimately turning the property into an interpretive center for visitors to see and experience history firsthand, buy souvenirs, and learn about an important part of Route 66 and Oklahoma history.
“It’s not just about us,” said Ed Threatt, who still lives in the area. “It’s about Black people in general. It’s about the white people who also support and agree that this is something that’s important.”