Union Service Station

Proprietor & his Crew

Union Service Station in Rio Grande City, Texas. (L-R) P. C. Olivares, Luis Salmon, Lalo Porras, Santos Porras Sr. & their Ford Model A & Model T (c 1927).

Family Business at the Gas Station

Pedro C. Olivares with nieces Angelita Martinez Reyna & Olga Martinez Cruz by Ford Model A. Courthouse and church in background (c 1927).

Father & Son

Pedro C. Olivares with a Jose Pedro Olivares in U.S. Army uniform, ready to enlist (1944).

Proprietor & his Crew

Union Service Station in Rio Grande City, Texas. (L-R) P. C. Olivares, Luis Salmon, Lalo Porras, Santos Porras Sr. & their Ford Model A & Model T (c 1927).

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Welcome...

In 1926 Pedro C. Olivares opened Union Service Station -- the first Magnolia Petroleum Co. gasoline station in the Rio Grande Valley. It was among the first to serve the motoring public in and around Rio Grande City and Starr County, Texas.

Now this historic building is one of a few gas stations surviving from that period in Texas. It will be commemorating its centennial in 2026, continually having been owned by generations of Pedro's descendants.