Looking at Courtesy Corner, the gas station at Calapooia Street (left) and Pacific Boulevard (right), on Oct. 28, 2024.
Someone asked whether the new signage at Courtesy Corner meant that the 70-year-old gas station in Albany had been sold. The answer, I’m happy to report, is no. It remains the same family business it has been since 1962.
The change in brands, from Shell to Sinclair, took place earlier this month. But the station ownership is the same.
“It’s our family business,” I was reminded Wednesday by Taylor Smith, who manages the station. At 66, Taylor is one of four children of the late Ronald L. Smith, who bought the business in 1962 and died, at age 90, in May 2023.
From my brief chat with Taylor, I gathered that the change to Sinclair was a business decision based on a number of factors, including a slightly lower price of the fuel.
On its website, Sinclair says it delivers fuel to more than 1,500 independently owned stations in 30 states. As near as I can tell, though, this is the only Sinclair station in the vicinity. The company’s website has not yet caught up with the Albany change and says the nearest Sinclair station is in Tigard.
Sinclair has a long history, having been founded in 1916. It adopted a dinosaur as its logo in the 1930s to remind people it was making “lubricants refined from crude oil believed to have formed when dinosaurs roamed the earth,” according to the website.
The Linn County tax department says the station was built in 1954.
During the Smith ownership since 1962, the station became renowned for its friendly service in keeping with its name. Over the years it also employed hundreds of high school and college-age people to provide that service.
That’s another thing that hasn’t changed. The young people I encounter there are still friendly and helpful, and they’ll still clean your windshield while you wait for the pump to shut off. (hh)
In 1974 on the way to church riding in the back of our big block staion wagon, the kind where you looked the other way if you sat in back, we would get gas before church every Sunday at 10 a.m. because a full tank would last you a week at 10 bucks at Courtesy Corner.
John Brewer
(Lived in Albany for 54 years, still fill up my work vans to this day, which is 100 bucks. To fill up and see Taylor. Good stuff.)
Thanks, Hasso, for that article on the gas station. I didn’t know any of that.
I always liked when dad stopped at Sinclair on our family vacations back to Nebraska because of their dinosaur logo. Didn’t know they had made it to Oregon until I saw the change at Courtesy Corner.
The dinosaur is a symbol of Taylor’s age.
All of your reports on Albany landmarks, etc. are a boon to the community. I still chuckle every time I stop at the light at downtown’s 2nd and Ellsworth when I look ahead and see the big orange Pawn Shop sign. You reported on that, and the D-H didn’t. The big orange Pawn Shop sign is across from an upscale bakery and a cute coffee shop with outdoor tables, and I smile even as I type this.
Thank you for your reporting on what has changed, and what hasn’t, at Albany’s Courtesy Corner service station. Having been loyal customers for decades, my wife and I feared the recent change in signage meant changes in the service we have grown to rely on since the days when Radar, the station’s Labrador Retriever would greet us. Not that long ago gas stations were commonly known as service stations and did repairs as well as providing fuels of all sorts. Ron Smith did me a solid favor shortly after five AM one cold, rainy winter morning before I had to travel to Bend for my employer. The overhead station lights weren’t on at that time but I could see Ron was there before I pulled in. He told me he was not officially open for business yet but assured me he could replace a burned out headlight on the work truck from his stock of parts before I left the Valley. The stock of fan belts, water hoses, headlights etc. are no longer behind the roll up mechanics bay doors, nor are the sometimes (only initially) grumpy mechanics. But credit to Taylor Smith, the spirit of friendly service remains.
I have traded with Courtesy Corner since the days I drove my ‘66 Chevy Impala while attending South Albany High School. Great service and friendly staff. In fact, I was just there today filling up my rig, no better service anywhere! Thanks to the Smith family and Taylor we will always have our Courtesy Corner!
Though, I do miss Radar the pup greeting customers!
I’ve filled up at Courtesy Corner for many years. I like the service and enjoy visiting with the young people who pump my gas. I was in a couple of weeks before the change and was told it was happening but everything would remain the same. It’s also where we buy gas for the lawnmower.
I see the price is now lower than the neighboring station, and check the pumps: still ‘top tier’ gas. I agree with others, the customer service is excellent (and rarer these days).
At least three years ago there was a Sinclair station between Bay City and Tillamook.
There is a Sinclair Station in Longview, Washington!
So many positive memories-my wife Linda would show up in the early a.m. w/4 kids & a broken “Blue Stage” & me on the road . Al would say no way, but Ron bless his heart would make it happen!!
God Bless Courtesy Corner,
Jerry Berndt