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Community Corner

Caspers' Corner Gas Station

Between 1926 and 1949, Edmonds motorists would head for the Caspers' Corner gas station to fill up with fuel, purchase candy and newspapers, and spend a few minutes in pleasant small talk with proprietor and Edmonds resident Anthony Caspers.

By the mid 1920s, automobiles had all but replaced horses in the cities and towns of America. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel “The Great Gatsby” set the tone of the times, and the automobile became an immediate icon of the jazz age.

Edmonds reflected the national trend. The local was booming, providing unprecedented wealth and jobs. in the downtown core, and . Automobiles were being sold locally at Heberlein’s Hardware and the , cars were lining up at the foot of Main Street to board the , and the city council was grappling with issues of speeding automobiles and traffic lights.

With automobiles quickly becoming ubiquitous, a host of businesses appeared catering to the motoring public. Already selling autos to Edmonds residents, Heberlein's Hardware in the historic became the town's first gas station when owner Ernest Heberlein began selling fuel from a tank sunk under the sidewalk in front of his store.

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Edmonds resident Anthony Caspers saw the opportunity, and in 1926 opened his gas station and convenience store on Third Avenue at what was then the northern city limits. The accompanying photo dates from 1929 and, aside from the antique pumps and other equipment, shows a gas station remarkably similar in concept to what we might find today. In addition to fuel, customers could purchase candy and tobacco, kerosene, newspapers and other goods. The location quickly became known as Caspers’ Corner, with the east-west street becoming Caspers Street.

As with many other local merchants, Caspers became active in city government and was elected to the City Council in 1932. Caspers' two daughters, Adrienne and Julia, graduated from Edmonds High School and went on to teach elementary school in Edmonds.

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He remained at Caspers’ Corner, operating his gas station for 24 years. He sold out in 1949 when the area was transforming to residential use.

Today no trace remains of the gas station, and the name Caspers’ Corner seems to have been lost. Private residences are now in its place.

The corner however is dominated by a magnificent Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum). While not the tallest tree in the world (this honor goes to the Coast Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens), the Giant Sequoia is the largest tree in terms of total volume. Mature trees average 24-26 feet in diameter, with record tree diameters reaching 56 feet. Native to isolated groves on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, Giant Sequoias thrive in Edmonds. This is one of several of these impressive trees planted locally by homeowners and others, and is a fitting tribute to Anthony Caspers and his quarter century of service to the Edmonds community.

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