The Enniss Auto Service Station, in Draper, Salt Lake County, was built in two phases between 1950 and 1955. It is locally significant under Criterion A in the areas of Transportation and Commerce, and under Criterion C in the area of Architecture. The Enniss Auto Service Station is significant in the area of Transportation for its unusual location away from the historic commercial and civic center of Draper. The service station is located less than two miles northeast of Draper’s town center on 700 East, which in the 1950s was the only direct north-south automobile connection between Draper and nearby Sandy in addition to the main thoroughfare of State Street. In the area of Commerce, the service station represents a number of local businesses that were established by returning service members and their families after World War II. The first owner and war veteran, Dan Enniss, chose to use the mechanical skills he acquired during the war to start the business, rather than reentering the farming and poultry industry in Draper after his military service. The property is eligible under the Multiple Property Listing, Historic and Architectural Resources of Draper, Utah, 1849-1954, representing the “Twentieth-Century Community Development and the Poultry Industry Period, 1918-1954” contextual period. However, the period of significance for the property extends beyond the MPS context, spanning from the original workshop construction date in 1950 to 1973, when the fuel service ceased and the focus of the business became auto repair only.
The Enniss Auto Service Station is also significant under Criterion C in the area of Architecture because it has the best historic integrity of any of the extant historic-era service stations in Draper. The property is also architecturally significant as a unique local adaptation of the Texaco franchise architecture in the 1950s. Dan Enniss built the automotive service bay workshop with his own hands in 1950. In 1955, Enniss became a Texaco franchise owner, and built the service station addition in front of his existing workshop addition. He hired a local contractor, R. R. Sylvester, to build the addition, adapting the popular designs of service stations of the period. The unique architectural elements of the Enniss Auto Service Station include: 1) the station as an addition to an existing building; 2) the asymmetrical design with a projecting front entry; and 3) the use of pink rock-faced concrete block on the façade. The Enniss Auto Service Station has excellent historic integrity and contributes to the historic resources of its north Draper neighborhood.