AMERICAN ORIGINS 1920, gasoline stations - The visible pumps were the protagonists of the Twenties, a decade in which the progress of motorization and of fuel distribution forged strongly ahead. By 1920, the gasoline pump had become part of the landscape, like street lamps and mailboxes. The number of gas stations on US territory approached fifteen thousand, though at this point one could not yet say that they were esthetically satisfying. They were instead crude and improvised constructions, for which no one took care to coordinate forms and colors, the mentality of their owners still being that of the early days, when the motorist asked nothing more than to have his tank filled. Against this commercial rudeness grew bodies of opinion which forced everyone, vendors and manufacturers alike, to reconsider the problem, and the great companies began to see that they could improve their corporate image by improving and unifying the look of their outlets. And thus began the flowering of the new service stations, whereby the quest for the beautiful at all costs brought results of every kind, and the design of the pumps themselves, focal point and raison d'etre of the gas station, became fundamental. Suddenly the pumps were required to be beautiful in the true sense of the word, sometimes to the extent of being harmonized directly with the architecture of the station. The manufacturers (nearly two hundred in 1925, both large and small) engaged in an all-out battle amongst themselves to find new formal solutions. Not being able to eliminate the glass measuring vessel, its presence was instead exalted. Supported on a base which contained the pump, decorative accessories in brass, chrome and colored enamel were added. In certain cases the pump was replaced by an underground compressor which pushed rather than drew the fuel upward . 7/20