Description of Historic Place

The A.D. Meek Filling Station is a small, one-storey rectangular log building now located at R.J. Haney Heritage Village & Museum in Salmon Arm, British Columbia. Recognized by its symmetrical construction, the station sits on the corner of the Village and features an orange and blue color scheme, a porcelain sign advertising it as a Union 76 franchise, and an overhang that protects the gas pumps.

Heritage Value

The A.D. Meek Filling Station is valued for its aesthetic, historical, and social significance.

Originally located on the southeast corner of Palmer Street and Alexander Avenue, the Filling Station was purpose-built and an excellent example of vernacular architecture. Alf Westerberg built the Station for A.D. Meek in 1927 using small trees for the build. Logs were cut, peeled, notched, and chinked.

The Filling Station is valued for its historical connection to the local business community, as well as A.D. Meek and his employees. Nicknamed the "Flea on the Fly," A.D. Meek ran several businesses concurrently. He operated an orchard, a packing house, a trucking and hauling business, and the Union Oil Bulk Plant. He delivered gas to Salmon Arm, Sicamous, Sorrento, and the North Shore. In 1930 Meek expanded the service operation and built a garage. The Filling Station served the community of Salmon Arm until 1935.

The Filling Station is valued socially for its adaptive reuse as a summer cabin. A.D. Meek had the Filling Station dismantled and towed by water to Paradise Point on Shuswap Lake in 1935. It was re-erected as the Meek family summer cabin. In 1944 the property was sold to Dick and Pearl Richards and was, in turn, eventually left to their daughters Pam and Esme. The daughters donated the building to R.J. Haney Heritage Village & Museum on the condition it be restored. In 1996 the members of the Shuswap Chapter of the Vintage Car Club of Canada dismantled and moved the logs, re-erecting the building at the Village in 1997.

Character-Defining Elements

The Character-Defining Elements of this historic place include the:

- Two gas pumps
- Hanging planters (in summer)
- Small rectangular log building with a large overhang
- Cedar shingle roof
- Exposed log rafter tails
- Log ends alternately painted orange and blue
- Original fixed single paned windows