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59.9-cent gallon gas? Believe it

Gasoline for 59.9 cents a gallon? With gas topping $3 in the Chicago area, it's hard to imagine.

But that was the price in 1977, according to Archie Bentz Jr., a former St. Charles filling station owner.

A Texaco dealer from 1977 to 1990, Bentz talked about Tri-Cities gas-industry operations during a May 24 presentation at the Batavia Public Library.

Bentz traveled from his retirement home in Crossville, Tennessee, to lead a roundtable discussion on Fox Valley gas stations.

Sampling an 130-page manuscript he created from documents and photos, he chronicled upriver gas stations. Included was the station he bought from his father, Archie Bentz Sr., who became St. Charles mayor.

Bentz described his research, begun in retirement, as a work in progress.

He compared its ever-expanding scope to "going down the rabbit hole" expression from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

He invited audience members, mostly current and former station workers, to contribute to his project, which he started in retirement to profile the Bentz station.

The Bentz family gas station, formerly at 215 E. Main St. in St. Charles, became the St. Charles History Museum in 2000.

The museum celebrated the former station's 90th anniversary with a display of artifacts and photos that ended May 25.

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