Texaco Service Station

One of three full service stations in the townsite, the Texaco was built in the 1930s. Staff posed in the early years in the photo gallery below.

Percy and Gladys Cunningham managed the Texaco from 1949 to 1982. Gladys operated the gas sales and Percy was kept more than busy delivering 100 pound tanks of propane to shack tents and portable cabins, repairing boat motors, golf carts, and fixing vehicles. A gifted mechanic, there didn’t seem to be anything that Percy couldn’t fix. He rescued many a holiday for people with boat motor troubles or broken down vehicles. 

“We, Percy and Gladys Cunningham, first started working at Waskesiu at the Texaco Station in 1949. At that time we didn’t have a vehicle, so whenever Percy needed to go somewhere in a hurry he would jump on one of the rental bikes belonging to Mr. Erickson, who rented bikes out of the corner store on the lake front The next year we bought a truck.

"We operated the station six months of the year. Most days Percy was there at 6:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. There was lots of mechanical work to do with vehicles, boats and later on with golf carts, as he serviced the carts for Ed Greenop at the Golf Course as well as the privately owned ones. 

"There were long days and one never knew what each day would bring. There were many tow jobs, some in the middle of the night, calls to Montreal Lake, accidents involving animals as well as people. One time a moose went through the windshield. Whenever a big wreck was brought in and parked at the back of the lot it drew many curiosity seekers. “

Percy and Gladys Cunningham, Waskesiu Memories, Volume III, edited by Dorell Taylor