The Dale’s Sinclair Service Station, built in 1955 at 96 E. Center Street, is locally significant under Criterion A for its association with the development of downtown Logan, Cache County, Utah in the mid-twentieth century. Under Criterion A, in the area of Commerce, the building is significant as the only extant example of a service station building associated with Logan’s downtown historic business district. The period of significance is 1955, the date of construction, to 1972, after which the building ceased to operate as a service station. Dale’s Sinclair Service Station is located within the eastern boundary of the NRHP-listed Logan Center Street Historic District (NRIS #79002488). In 1979, when the historic district was listed, Dale’s Service Station was evaluated as non-contributing as it was outside the period of significance. It would be considered a contributing building in an amended nomination to update the historic district’s period of significance, but there are no current plans for an update. Regardless, Dale’s Sinclair Service Station has excellent historic integrity and individual significance for its contribution to the mid-century retail renaissance in Logan’s downtown.
Under Criterion C, the property is locally significant in the area of Architecture as a well-preserved example of the Sinclair Fuel Company’s color branding and architectural plans in the 1950s. The Dale’s Sinclair Service Station features an octagonal glass storefront, part of the company’s more Streamline Moderne-style designs. Examples of this design could be found across the United States in the 1950s but most have been demolished or altered. Dale’s Sinclair Service Station is the only documented example in Utah. The architecture of Dale’s Sinclair Service is distinguished from other surviving examples from the 1950s in four aspects: 1) the building has been only minimally altered since 1955 and had the distinctive architecture associated with the Sinclair brand restored, including associated contributing objects; 2) the building is a unique surviving example of an urban service station in a larger city’s downtown business district; 3) the urban design is emphasized by the abutting building and no canopy; and 4) this particular Sinclair plan is a rare surviving example of a prestige design (octagonal glass and setback service bays) that was mostly built in urban settings.
