7. Farrington’s Service Station was once one of the city’s oldest gas stations
Farrington’s Service Station appeared to be an unassuming gas station on 15th Avenue, but it was actually New York’s oldest Gulf gas station and likely the oldest gas station in Queens. Today, it remains a Gulf station, though a new company called K&K Auto Repair Service has taken over the space. Farrington’s opened in 1868, nearly two decades before the first car was manufactured. It was owned by the same family since its opening, started by William Farrington as a blacksmith shop for horseshoes and horse feed; the family dates back to the 17th century when New York was New Netherland.
The store was a go-to at the time for racing horseshoes, as Farrington himself owned several racehorses. It wasn’t until 1917, though, that the station began pumping gas as New York City transitioned from horse-drawn vehicles to automobiles. The station continued pumping gas for over a century, although heightened oil costs posed some challenges. Much of the building’s history had been preserved through dozens of photographs inside documenting the shop’s transformation, especially during College Point’s resort era. Some of the original horseshoes were on display, and some of the original imagery remains on the exterior of the building today, including artworks of a horse and an early automobile.