Saturday, November 16, 2013

Bygone Business: Deaton's Marathon Station

Deaton's Marathon, looking south toward Univerity, 1977
When I was growing up in Rochester, there were more gas stations along Main Street that there are today. One of those stations, now long gone, was Deaton's Marathon, located on the west side of North Main just south of what was then the Dillman & Upton lumber yard. Today, this location would be part of the Rochester Medical Center development.

Deaton's Marathon was one of several local businesses operated by W. "Joe" Deaton, a 1951 graduate of Rochester High School.  Joe Deaton was well known in the community and served as a member of the volunteer fire department, the Shriners, and the American Legion Homer Wing Post. He died in 2002.

I remember visiting Deaton's Marathon as a child, and I particularly recall going there to collect the promotional glassware that Marathon gave away to commemorate the Apollo space missions during the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Does anybody else still have a full set of this fine drinkware in the back of the cupboard somewhere? There are probably many
thousands of examples out there, but all of mine came from Deaton's Marathon on Main Street in Rochester, Michigan.  Those were the days!
Posted by Remembering Rochester at 1:10 PM

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 16, 2013 at 5:16 PM

    Is the the Butts-Swayze House in the background?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Remembering RochesterNovember 16, 2013 at 8:23 PM

      The Butts-Swayze house was torn down in 1970, so it was long gone by the time this image was taken in 1977. The house you see in the background, immediately to the south of the gas station, was numbered 519 N. Main, now also gone. The next property to the south would have been 511 N. Main, now a martial arts studio but originally built as the Arnold Drug Store.

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