Built in 1917 in Dividend, Utah and owned by Frank Birch from Eureka, this Sinclair service station served the community of Dividend until 1947 when the Tintic Standard Mine closed and the community started to fade away. People didn’t just leave, but they took their homes and other structures with them – homes from Dividend ended up in Spanish Fork, Goshen and other places and this service station was moved to Elberta.

This location (the SE corner of the junction of Highways 6 and 68) was home to a Conoco station, Blue Light Service. That building was moved a few hundred feet out into the field to the southeast and the Sinclair station was put in its place. This photo is the old Conoco station:

Frank Birch moved the station to Elberta and it was purchased by Carl Patten, when Carl passed away in 1973 it went to his son and it was in service until 1982. In 1984 a different son of Carl’s, Gaylord purchased the land and station and he still owns it. Gaylord has many memories of growing up with it being his father’s shop, fun memories of getting his first car, a 1929 Model A and working on it in this shop, memories of the old stove and drill press and more from the Tintic Standard Mine that were still in the shop.

This old building is a bit of a local icon and probably one of the more photographed buildings in Utah. Gaylord’s daughter lives nearby and is working to keep it looking nice and eventually get a plaque to put on the backside with photos of Carl and his wife.

These plaques were added with some history in 2021: