A Truly Ten Gallon Hat

During my search through our collections for interesting hats, bonnets, caps, and all manner of headgear for my most recent Flickr album, I found one hat that most certainly was never meant to sit on anyone’s head. When it opened in 1954 as the “Premium Tex” gas station, this red hat captured drivers’ imaginations on Route 99. Over 40 feet wide, the concrete and steel structure was meant to be part of a shopping center called Frontier Village, but the project never truly came to fruition. The station was later renamed “Hat n’ Boots,” as seen in this 1977 photo by John Margolies:

As that name suggests, the hat did not stand alone next to the gas pumps! Nearby, two restrooms were constructed, enclosed in cowboy boots, as seen in the next two photos:

The somewhat rundown state of the gas station in these photos did make me wonder if it could still be standing. I was so relieved to find that, while no longer a gas station, the hat and boots were restored and then moved to a nearby park in the community of Georgetown in 2003. They remain there today, continuing to delight passersby.

Learn More:

• Photographer John Margolies regularly captured the novelty buildings of roadside America in his travels around the country. Learn all about his collection through this research guide: Roadside America Photographs by John Margolies in the Library of Congress.
• Cap off your day with a look at a Flickr album dedicated to Hats, which includes images selected from a variety of collections in the Prints & Photographs Division.
• Read past Picture This posts featuring Roadside America, and the work of John Margolies.