John Osterman Gas Station in Peach Springs: A Route 66 Survivor Fighting for Its Future

John Osterman Gas Station Peach Springs Page Hdr.

The John Osterman Gas Station: A Route 66 Landmark With a Story Worth Saving

At the corner of Historic Route 66 and Diamond Creek Road in Peach Springs, a small concrete-block building that looks, at first glance, unremarkable holds one of the most extraordinary stories on the entire Arizona stretch of the Mother Road. The John Osterman Gas Station — built by Swedish immigrant Oscar Osterman in the late 1920s from a concrete-block kit purchased from a Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog — was once one of five gas stations serving the Route 66 corridor through Peach Springs. It is the only one still standing today. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012 and owned by the Hualapai Tribe, it has faced storm damage, near-collapse, and a race against time — and it is fighting to survive.

Where is the John Osterman Gas Station?

The gas station is located at the intersection of Historic Route 66 and Diamond Creek Road in Peach Springs, approximately 25 miles west of the Grand Canyon Caverns and about 63 miles east of Kingman. It sits adjacent to the Peach Springs Trading Post (also on the National Register) and near the Hualapai Lodge.

The Story of the Osterman Family

A Swedish Sailor Finds His Way to Arizona

The story of the John Osterman Gas Station begins with one of Route 66’s most improbable journeys. John Osterman was a Swedish sailor who left Sweden in 1914 aboard a German merchant ship — a decision with immediate consequences when World War I broke out and his ship was interned on the Mexican Pacific coast at Santa Rosalia, Baja California. Osterman was interned but managed to escape, eventually making his way north into the United States.

By chance, he ended up in Peach Springs, Arizona, where he found work on a cattle ranch and applied for U.S. citizenship. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in World War I. After the war, Osterman returned to Peach Springs and opened a garage and service station in 1923, marrying a local woman named Dorothy Shawver later that year. His brother Oscar followed him from Sweden and joined the enterprise.

The Gas Station Rises

In 1926, when U.S. Route 66 was officially designated along the National Old Trails Highway through Peach Springs, traffic through town began to increase steadily. John and Oscar Osterman recognized the opportunity and expanded aggressively. In 1929, John built a new Shell gas station and garage directly on Route 66 at the corner of Diamond Creek Road — the building now known as the John Osterman Gas Station. Next door, the brothers constructed the Peach Springs Auto Court with fourteen units, a bathhouse, and their family home.

The gas station was constructed using a concrete-block kit purchased from the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog — a practical and relatively affordable building method available to entrepreneurs in remote locations during this era. The “House with Bays” form, featuring an office resembling a small house with attached garage bays, allowed the station to offer both fuel sales and extensive mechanical repair services.

The Sears Catalog Connection

The detail of the Sears catalog construction method speaks volumes about the realities of building a business in remote Arizona during the late 1920s. Sears offered complete building kits — from modest houses to commercial structures — that could be shipped by rail and assembled by local labor. For the Ostermans, operating miles from any major supply center, the catalog method offered a reliable way to build a proper commercial building without access to specialist contractors or unusual materials.

A Busy Corner

During Route 66’s peak years, the Osterman gas station was one of the busiest stopping points in Peach Springs, which had grown into one of the most active communities on Route 66 between Kingman and Flagstaff. The Hualapai tribal chairwoman recalls buying candy and soda at the station as a child, remembering the smell of oil and the cigarette machines that charged 25 cents a pack. Busloads of tourists photographed the station and the surrounding community.

The Osterman brothers eventually expanded their operations to Kingman, where they opened a car dealership and other businesses, selling off their Peach Springs operations to local buyers. The station changed hands several times before eventually closing in the 1990s after Interstate 40 had long since drained Route 66 of its traffic.

Endangered and Fighting for Survival

The Hualapai Tribe purchased the shuttered station in the mid-2000s with the intention of restoring it and making it a community and tourism asset. In 2009, the tribe nominated it for the National Register of Historic Places, and the listing was granted in 2012. Progress on restoration was slow, however, and time — and weather — were not kind.

In 2021, a microburst tore the roof off the building. A subsequent windstorm caused a major section of wall to collapse, threatening the entire structure. The National Trust for Historic Preservation named the John Osterman Gas Station to its prestigious 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list in 2023, bringing national attention to the building’s precarious situation. The listing helped unlock grant funding from multiple sources, including an American Rescue Plan Act grant from Arizona State Parks and Trails, allowing stabilization work to begin.

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs declared the station “an important piece of Americana” and expressed support for the Hualapai Tribe’s revitalization plans. The goal is to restore the building to a usable condition by the time Route 66 celebrates its centennial in 2026 — an ambitious but deeply meaningful target.

Tips for Visiting the Osterman Gas Station

The building is in the process of restoration and may not be accessible — view and photograph from the road respectfully.
Check with the Hualapai Lodge in Peach Springs for the latest information on the restoration’s progress and any planned public access.
Combine with a visit to the adjacent Peach Springs Trading Post (also on the National Register) for a comprehensive view of Peach Springs’ Route 66 heritage.
The Hualapai Lodge is the best local resource for information, lodging, and booking Grand Canyon West and Diamond Creek Road experiences.
The Grand Canyon Caverns, 25 miles east on Route 66, make an excellent complement to the Peach Springs historical stops — combining geology, Route 66 history, and Cold War lore in a single morning.

Final Thoughts on the John Osterman Gas Station

The John Osterman Gas Station is a story about immigrants, enterprise, Route 66’s economic power, and the ongoing effort to preserve the physical evidence of communities that the Mother Road helped build and then, with the coming of the interstate, largely abandoned. It is one of the most historically significant Route 66 preservation challenges currently underway in Arizona, and its outcome will say something important about how much the highway’s legacy — including the stories of the communities that were never purely Anglo-American tourist stops — matters to the broader preservation movement.