Flight of its life
by Scott Barker
Reprinted here with the permission of the The Knoxville News Sentinel Company

Back in 1930, when barnstormers crisscrossed the country and the exploits of pilots like Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh captured the imaginations of Americans, brothers Henry and Elmer Nickle built the Airplane Filling Station on Clinton Highway in Powell.
The brothers Nickle wanted something to catch the eye of southbound travelers on what was then called the Dixie Highway.
They got their wish: a landmark shaped like an airplane, complete with wings and a propeller, where they dispensed gas and grins to generations of motorists.
Though long in disrepair, the Airplane Filling Station is getting ready to take off again.
Last Year, the dilapidated roadside attraction was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Then the state stepped in to fix a vexing environmental problem.
"Its getting better every day," Tom Milligan, president of the Airplane Filling Station Association, said of the effort to revive the aging structure.
"The main thing is getting it bought and getting started with the reconstruction."
The State agencies took care of one impediment .
The Tennessee Department of Transportation paid nearly $15,000 in settlement money it owed to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to clean a pair of underground gas storage tanks. Workers cleaned out the 1,000-gallon tanks, filled them with concrete and tested the surrounding soil for contamination. TDEC has given the property a clean bill of health. The association's Rock Bernard said it was a relief to get help solving a problem that could have wrecked the project. He said the worst case scenario estimate for removing the tanks was $200,000. "It was like the monster under the bed," Bernard said "We wanted to take care of it." Steve Wilson, head of the underground storage tank program for TDEC's Knoxville field office, said the state joined the project because a restored Filling Station would give a boost to the local community.
"It has historical significance," Wilson said.
Underground storage tanks typically removed completely. However, Wilson said, "It was impossible to remove them because they were located under the nose of the plane."
There are 1,100 regulated underground storage tanks in the 16 county Knoxville region, Wilson said, and an unknown number of older tanks that aren't regulated. Many are abandoned and, like the ones at the Airplane Filling Station, discovered only when property is sold.
With the property's environmental problem solved, the preservation association can turn its attention to raising the money needed to purchase the land and renovate the unique building.
The building is "crammed full of junk," Milligan said, and members of the preservation association won't know what renovations would entail until they can clean it out and get a good look at its condition.
"The old thing looks solid, but I don't know what we're going to find when we get in there," Milligan said.
The group has approached Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale to see if county government could play a role in the restoration.
"He's very interested and willing to support it in a number of ways." Ragsdale spokesman Dwight Van de Vate said, including financial assistance. However, Van de Vate said, Ragsdale would like the private sector to step up to the plate before offering taxpayers' money.
Milligan said DeRoyal Industries has made a donation, and the group has approached other businesses. Bernard is selling T-shirts at his Ashville Highway barbershop and at the group's Web site, www.powellairplane.org. A fund-raiser will be scheduled late in the spring.
Bernard said a lot of people are rallying to the cause. Monday Real Estate owns the building and has been patient with the group as it tries to arrange financing.
Joe Inman is another preservation association member who has put in a lot of hours on the project, Bernard said.
Partnership Center, and two of his graduate students. Micah Wood and Jennifer Lehto. As a Class project for Ezzell, Wood and Lehto drafted the successful National Register application. Properties on the National Register can be eligible for federal grants to help defray restoration costs.
Knox Heritage is acting as the preservation assocaition's fiscal agent. Kim Trent, executixe director of Knox Heritage, said the Airplane Filling Station is Unique.
"It's a great example of roadside whimsical architecture," Trent said. "It's a local landmark.
Many gas station oweners in the 1920's and the 1930's tried to find ways to attract travelers who were filling America's highways as soon as the roads were built. Most are gone forever. Other examples still standing include an old Shell station shaped, naturally enough, like a sea shell, in Winston-Salem, N.C.
"It's not only architecture, " Trent Said. "It's roadside advertising."
The Nickles Family sold the building in the 1970's. Since then, the funkiest structure in Powell has been a fruit stand, car lot and package store. Among the uses contemplated by the preservation association include office space for a non-profit group or a visitors center.
Whatever the ultimate use, Trent said the restored building would be "a great landmark for the Powell community and something they can be proud of. It people memories worth having." Scott Barker may be reached at 865-342-6309.