National and State Registers of Historic Places
Vickers Petroleum Service Station
140 N Main St
Haysville (Sedgwick County)
Listed in National Register
Sep 30, 2019
Architect: Hickman, John M.
Category: specialty store
Thematic Nomination: Roadside Kansas
Vickers Petroleum, founded by Jack A. Vickers, Sr. in 1918, steadily rose in prosperity from its inception until its sale to Swift & Company in the late 1960s. The company became known for its innovation not only in oil technology but also in building and construction. By 1954, Vickers’s son Jack A. Vickers, Jr. was the president of the company and set out to build transformative and modern service stations after amassing a large fortune for the company. When an EF4 tornado struck the city of Haysville in 1999, little remained in the city other than the first Vickers batwing service station. The community’s efforts to preserve the last remaining bit of their town after the tornado displayed the city’s desire to rebuild their town and to preserve its history to the largest extent possible. The Vickers Petroleum Service Station is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under the Roadside Kansas Multiple Property Document for Criterion A for COMMERCE, as a representation of the long history of the Vickers Petroleum company. Additionally, it is eligible for Criterion C in the area of architecture as a unique and first-of-its-kind design and construction.