Gas prices have been making headlines over the past few months. Carillon Historical Park is no different – the Park houses a 1924 Sun Oil Company Station, which is an everyday reminder of how gasoline impacts the world.

When Dayton’s Sun Oil Company Station opened in 1924 on the corner of Brown and Warren streets, five gallons of gasoline could be purchased for $.99. According to the consumer price index estimate, those five gallons would cost $10.65 today, or $2.13 per gallon when adjusted for inflation. With all of the lessons history teaches us, some things stay about the same.

The Sun Oil Company’s influence spans further than gas prices. This company was the first to standardize the design and color of all its service stations to blue tile, arched eyebrow roofs and blue, white and yellow exteriors. Today, these same colors are still used by all Sunoco stations.

Dayton is also known for discovering the first antiknock gasoline. Charles F. Kettering and Thomas M. Midgley, Jr. identified 143 antiknock gasoline agents, but they were all too weak, expensive, foul-smelling or destructive of engine parts. Finally, they discovered an effective antiknock gasoline agent, and ethyl gasoline was born. The first ethyl gasoline, sold for 24 cents-a-gallon, was pumped in Dayton at the Refiners gas station on Sixth and Main in February1923. Join us this season to experience these and hundreds of other stories at Carillon Historical Park.

ADMISSION CHARGE: Excluding Special Ticketed Events