Soulsby Shell Service Station is located at 710 W 1st S St, Mt Olive, IL 62069. It’s hard to believe that the original Route 66 highway passed through this small residential area in Mount Olive.
The Soulsby Shell Service Station in Mount Olive, Il was built in 1926 by Russell Soulsby and his father, Henry. He ran it with his sister, Ola, until 1991. For it’s 65 years of operation, it sold only Shell Gasoline.
According to the National Park Service, Henry Soulby, who had been working in mining until an injury made it impossible to continue in that work, learned that a national highway would soon pass through Mount Olive. In 1926, he invested most of his life savings in two lots at the corner of 1st Street which is no called Old Route 66. With what he had left he built a gas station on the corner lot.
Mr. Soulsby designed and built the station himself. It’s basically a house and a garage with a covered canopy that extends out over the gas pumps. It blends in with the other homes of the neighborhood which was an important design element for gas companies at that time who were looking for gas stations that would blend in well with the neighborhood.
Henry’s children, Russell and Ola Soulsby took over the station when Henry retired. Their partnership would endure until the station closed in 1993.
The Soulsby Station is a perfect example of how the growing interstate highway system led to the doom of small business in small towns along the original Route 66. In the late 1950’s, Interstate 55 went through Mount Olive a mile away from the Soulsby Station on the original Route 66. The resulting lack of traffic led to the ultimate closing of the station.
New owners purchased the station and in 2004, the National Park Service provided a grant for restoration efforts of the station. According to the Park Service, today, the station looks essentially the same as it did during its post-World War II heyday. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
