Armed robbery at former gas station

Hannah Gross
NLJ Correspondent
With Leonard Cash 
 
In last week’s installment of “History on Main,” historian Leonard Cash left off with a brief history of the gas station once located at Isabella’s. This week, he picks up where he left off with a news
report on an armed robbery at the station. 
On Oct. 6, 1977, the paper reported that this downtown gas station (now called Goode’s Standard Service) fell victim to an armed robbery “last Saturday morning,” and about $170 was taken.
Harvey Goode was the lessee at the time. 
A few years later, the April 2, 1981, issue reported that Goode announced that he was no longer going to be associated with Goode’s Standard Service, effective April 1, but owner Martens said it would keep the doors open and continue operating. Goode operated the station for nine years, and according to the article, he was going to work for Toco, an oil refining company. 
Near the end of the year, Don and Karen Terhune took over management of the gas station, announced the Nov. 12, 1981, paper. The business became the D&K Standard and offered automotive services and automatic
transmission service. 
Terhunes had it for about two years, Cash said, and in the Dec. 1, 1983, paper, Don and Karen (as well as their son Jeremy) wrote a letter to the community thanking them for their business and added that “we have enjoyed serving you the past two years.” 
After the Terhunes, there wasn’t much activity with the station, but according to an article from May 3, 1984, D&B Gas and Oil on 102 W. Main was open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., but Cash said he isn’t sure who owned and
operated it. 
The building sat empty for a while, Cash said, and it was torn down and removed sometime in the early 2000s. 
Before leaving his series on Isabella’s, Cash wanted to discuss A.M. Nichols’ house at 16 Wentworth St. (the big yellow house on the corner, which still stands today) because Nichols was
involved with the history of Isabella’s building. 
According to the Nov. 30, 1916, paper, Nichols started excavation on his lot in the north section of town, and on Dec. 7, 1916, the paper reported that Dodge Bros. of Oil Creek won the contract for grading the Wentworth property. The extra dirt was taken to the lumber yard to fill in the ground, which saved both time and money, the article said. 
The Weston County Gazette reported in March 1917 that S.C. Smith, a contractor from Moorcroft, was in Newcastle to check out Nichols’ “bungalow,” which would have eight rooms and three “large sleeping porches and will be modern and the latest style of architecture.” Work
would begin as soon as the ground thawed. 
A report from the March 8, 1917, News Letter said that Nichols and his men were busy getting ready to build, and a month later, “work was started in earnest” and when it was finished, the April 5, 1917, article said it was to be “one of the most attractive in the city.” 
The April 19, 1917, paper reported that Nichols was fencing the ground adjacent to the city limits on the south and east sides, so he could use it as a horse pasture in the summer. 
Work on Nichols’ home was being rushed, according to the May 10, 1917, paper to be “one of the largest and most striking buildings in town.” 
On Aug. 2, 1917, the paper announced that the wife of S.C. Smith, the contractor for Nichols’ house project, was visiting her husband
from Moorcroft. 
On the bright side, a few months later, Nichols’ house was complete, and he and his family moved in, as reported in the Aug. 30, 1917, paper. 
The original dimensions and description of the house are given in the Dec. 27, 1917, issue of the News Letter Journal. The main part of the house was 32 feet by 48 feet, and the porch was 12 feet by 32 feet, made of native gray sandstone. There were six rooms on the main floor and five on the second. The living room, dining room and den had beam ceilings and oak floors. The fireplace in the
den was built from “a collection of petrifications” that Nichols gathered in Wyoming, creating one of the “most unique fireplaces.”
The house was complete with a finished basement, which stored the heating plant, coal and wood bins, billiard room, fruit room and laundry room. The interior woodwork was finished with fir in a Fleming oak stain. The kitchen, bath and billiard rooms were furnished white. 
On March 21, 1918, the paper reported that Nichols’ wife had a “two in one” iron machinery installed in the laundry room. It was heated with gasoline and run by an electric motor, and “is a great labor and trouble saver.”
The following spring, Nichols hired J.L. Sundstrom to build a stone wall around his residence, according to the June 20, 1918, paper.  
Almost two years after its owners moved in, Nichols’ house received a new coat of paint, according to the July 10, 1919, paper. 
Since then, the house has gone through several owners and is still used as a residence to this day. 
And that finishes up the history of Nichols’ home on Wentworth Street. Next week, Cash will share some of
his ghost stories from the Isabella’s building.