The Motor Age Arrives in Kennewick
Gasoline and oil sales skyrocket as the local automobile population explodes, revealing a town transforming around the car.
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L. W. Murray, local manager for the Standard Oil company, returned from a managerial meeting in Tacoma to report rapid business growth across the state, with the Kennewick branch keeping pace. 'When I took charge here three years ago, 300 gallons of gasoline a week was considered a good week’s business. Now we are delivering gasoline at the rate of 450 gallons a day,' said Murray. Sales of lubricating oils similarly jumped from 50 gallons a month to over 1,200 gallons of Zerolene alone. This surge is driven by the rapid adoption of the automobile; Murray estimates that within ten miles of Kennewick, there is now one car for every 10 inhabitants.
“Three years ago our sales of lubricating oils averaged about 50 gallons a month. Last month our sales of Zerolene alone amounted to more than 1200 gallons.”
In 1917, Kennewick was measuring its growth by the rise of the personal automobile, a technology that would soon permanently reshape the city's geography. Today, the town faces the modern version of this civic evolution, as residents debate density and the necessity of parking infrastructure against a backdrop of housing affordability.
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