(Matthew McDermott)
KEEPING PACE: Farrington’s gas station (bottom) in College Point has made a few changes since the 1800s (above). (Matthew McDermott)
This place gives “fossil fuel” a whole new meaning.
A historic gas station in Queens has been in business for so long that when it first opened, the only mustangs and broncos it serviced had stirrups, not seatbelts.
Farrington Service Station in College Point opened in 1868 — just three years after the Civil War ended. And while other gas stations have come and gone, remarkably, Farrington’s has been owned by the same family on the same street corner for 145 years.
“My father and my grandfather before him always said, ‘Never sell your luck,’ ” said John Farrington, 56, who co-owns the station at 15th Avenue and 126th Street with his brother, Michael.
“That gas station has been our luck in this family for five generations. We would never get rid of it.”
The station has undergone numerous face-lifts as it’s gone from servicing horses to fueling automobiles — first with Sinclair Oil, then BP and, finally, with Gulf.
John Farrington has been around for a good chunk of that history.
“I remember pumping these pumps and it was 35 cents a gallon,” he said, remembering when he and his brother were kids working at the station in the ’60s and ’70s. “You stood there in the cold, pumping $2 worth of gas.”
The family attributes its company’s longevity to a simple business philosophy: saving.
“In good times, put the money away,” John said. “In bad times, you had it in case you needed it, to keep yourself running. That’s how we made it through the depression, major recessions, the downfall of the banks.”
But in more recent years, escalating oil-delivery costs have put Farrington’s on the brink, forcing it to sell gas for more money than its corporate-owned competitors nearby.
“We were buying the gas directly from Gulf and were having a very difficult time being competitive with our prices,” John said. “We were selling maybe 30,000 gallons a month, down from 70,000 or 80,000.”
Salvation came last year when the family made a deal with a local businessman who owned other stations and agreed to lease their gas tanks from them and pay the gasoline delivery costs.
While both Farrington brothers now have careers outside of the station, they drop in frequently to check in on two cousins who run it — and to pay homage to their father, George, who died last month on Valentine’s Day at 83.
“My father grew up in the house behind the gas station. He worked here his whole life,” John said, adding that his mother still lives just a few houses down the street.
“My parents just loved being part of it. They would never leave it.”