Airplane Service Station

Airplane Service Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	6829 Clinton Hwy Powell, Tennessee
Nearest city:	Knoxville, Tennessee
Coordinates:	36°0′26″N 84°1′52″W
Built:	1930
Architect:	Wayne L. Smith, Elmer F. Nickle, Henry C. Nickle
Architectural style:	Fantastic
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	04000198
Added to NRHP:	March 18, 2004

The Airplane Service Station, also known as the Powell Airplane, is a service station built in 1930 in the shape of an airplane. Located at 6829 Clinton Highway in Powell, a neighborhood in Knox County, Tennessee, it is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The station was built by brothers Elmer and Henry Nickle. Their intent was to increase business by having a service station that was visually unique, both to area residents and to travelers on newly widened U.S. Highway 25. Elmer Nickle had a strong interest in airplanes, and so the station was constructed in the Fantastic architectural style in the shape of an airplane.

The structure ceased being used as a service station in the 1960s, when it became a liquor store. It has also been a produce stand, bait & tackle shop, and a used car lot. Knox Heritage and a local organization, the Airplane Filling Station Preservation Association (AFSPA), are working to preserve the structure.

Paris, Tennessee

There was a second, unrelated airplane-shaped service station built in 1933 in Paris, Tennessee. It was located at the intersection of Mineral Wells Avenue and Memorial Drive. Unlike the Powell station, only the roof was constructed in an airplane shape.

See also

• Teapot Dome Service Station, 1922 station built in the shape of a teapot
• Shell Service Station, 1930 station built in the shape of a scallop shell

External links

• Powellairplane.org – official AFSPA site
• Roadside America
• National Register of Historic Places
• Image gallery
• Airplane Service Station, c. 1931 — McClung Digital Collection