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
NRHP reference No.	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, an unincorporated community 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 and 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.

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

• Roadside America
• National Register of Historic Places
• Image gallery
• Airplane Service Station, c. 1931 — McClung Digital Collection