When automobiles appeared on the streets of Norfolk, Augustus P. Curtiss converted the stable housing his horse and carriage livery business to a garage stocked with automotive supplies and gasoline. The garage was located on Shepard Road. Look carefully and you will notice Shell’s familiar scallop shell logo on top of the gasoline pump (the shell is now at the Historical Museum) and the price advertised as 22 cents, the average price of a gallon of gas in the mid 1920s. If you think that sounds too good to be true, remember to adjust for inflation. In today’s dollars, 22 cents translates to about $3.50. The price of gas was just as much a concern then as it is now. In only ten years, the price had almost doubled from 14 cents a gallon in 1914. The demand for gasoline during World War I and the increase in consumption by the growing number of automobiles precipitated the steep rise and fueled fears that the supply would soon run out.

— Text by Ann Havemeyer
— Photo courtesy of the Norfolk Historical Society