Former Gardnerville gas station to reopen as information center this month

GARDNERVILLE, Nev. — In 2013, Douglas County couldn’t sell a defunct gas station at auction, so it turned the property over to the town of Gardnerville.

Five years later, Gardnerville Station will reopen 4:30 p.m. Dec. 17.

Using grants, the former Eagle Gas Station was converted into an information center for Carson Valley’s second oldest town.

The station will also offer a venue for meetings and special events.

Gardnerville obtained the former Condron Shell station in 2013 after a failed attempt to sell the Eagle Gas Station.

There has been a gas station at the intersection of Main and Mission streets in Gardnerville since Bessie Gefeke opened the Traveler’s Service Station in 1928.

The gas station on the south end of Gardnerville was leased out in 1941 by the Gefekes and had several owners until Virgil Condron purchased it in 1958 and opened it as the South-Side Shell Service. Shell built a new station on the site in 1961.

The real value in the property lies underneath it, where drainage improvements should reduce flooding on Highway 395 at the S-curve.

In addition to new catch basins, a new larger culvert measuring 3-feet by 20 feet will replace the old 6-foot wide culvert.

That will prevent a 50-year flood from crossing over the highway and reduce the water over the highway to 2-4 inches deep in a 100-year-flood.

It has been five years and with the help of Brownfields & Petroleum Fund, Community Development Block Grant and Douglas County, the renovation phase of the building has been completed and the town looks forward to more site improvements in the near future.