Young Brothers Chevrolet Garage

The Young Brothers Chevrolet Garage is a site on the National Register of Historic Places located in Chinook, Montana. It has also been known as AAA Garage, as Taylor Motor Company, as Tilleman Chevrolet, and as Precision Auto Body. It was added to the Register on August 16, 1994. It is a stucco building with an asphalt roof.

Young Brothers Chevrolet Garage
Location201 Pennsylvania St.
Chinook, Montana
Coordinates48°35′38″N 109°13′54″W
Arealess than one acre
Built1912
Architectural styleMission/Spanish Revival
MPSRoadside Architecture Along US 2 in Montana MPS
NRHP reference No.94000867[1]
Added to NRHPAugust 16, 1994

A placard reads:

A garage/automotive business has served the motoring public at this location since 1912, establishing a long pattern of similar use rarely found in Montana buildings. Although the building was possibly built as a livery stable, it was soon converted to an auto garage, which catered to US 2 travelers and local residents. In 1929, brothers Neil and Hollis Young bought the business, known in the 1920s as the Triple A Garage, and moved their automotive shop here from across the street. The Youngs owned the local Chevrolet dealership, and within five years they had also purchased Pontiac and Oldsmobile franchises, offering Chinook residents a fine choice of General Motors products. Typical of most small-town dealerships, gasoline and petroleum sales supplemented automotive sales and repair. Primarily an outlet for Conoco, the pumps also dispensed Grizzly gas from Cut Bank and Silver gas from Great Falls. In 1939, S. L. Taylor purchased the business and it remained the Taylor Motor Company until 1977. The gas pumps were removed and the franchise closed under owner Mike Tilleman in 1979. Former Tilleman employee Wesley Bevis purchased the facility in the early 1980s and opened his own business, Precision Auto Body, continuing the long tradition of auto service at this location. The building itself is an outstanding example of the Mission style, an architectural form not often found in the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains region. A splendid curvilinear parapet, capped pilasters, horizontal relief banding, and a smooth stucco exterior provide excellent expression of this style; its bold modernity reflects the spirited progressiveness of the early automotive era.[2]

It sold Conoco, Grizzly, and Silver gas products in the 1930s, and it operated as a gas station into the 1970s.[3]

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Montana National Register Historical Marker Sign Text". State of Montana. Jul 13, 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  3. Joseph M. Ashley (October 1993). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Young Brothers Chevrolet Garage / AAA Garage, Taylor Motor Company, Tilleman Chevrolet, Precision Auto Body". National Park Service. Retrieved July 27, 2017. With eight photos, historic and from 1993.
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