Workers who toiled the sugar beet fields could cut loose on Saturday nights at the old Johnson’s Corner gas station in south Longmont. Manager Floyd Townsend entertained with his mandolin and wife Nola provided food and beer for everyone.
“My dad would feed them all,” said Beth Barber, Floyd’s 82-year-old daughter. “He would feed the Japanese workers, Hispanics, anyone who worked the fields. He was completely color blind.”
“And word got around,” Barber said. “If you want to have a good time, go to Johnson’s Corner.”
That same two-story Johnson’s Corner is now being renovated in Longmont's Prospect neighborhood. It sat for years at its old location, slowly deteriorating and being targeted by vandals until it was moved into Prospect in 2003.
Developer David Nassar says he is turning the vintage gas station into a cultural center, where residents can enjoy poets, musicians, fine wine and meals. Nassar hopes that when the building is finished in September 2023, people will witness the old gas station transformed into a 21st Century “Creative Monastery,” Nassar told the Leader in February.
Nassar said he wants to recreate the same neighborhood camaraderie that made the old Johnson’s Corner a place where anyone could relax and enjoy each other’s company.
“I really liked the idea of the gas station’s manager not turning away anyone,” Nassar said. “That really inspires me.”
Renowned architect Eugene Groves designed Johnson’s Corner, which opened in 1937. Owner Joe Johnson hired her dad to manage the south Longmont Johnson’s Corner. A second Johnson’s Corner also opened in north Longmont, Barber said.
She is reading local media to get all the updates on the Johnson’s Corner renovation. “I can’t wait to see how it all turns out,” Barber said.
She was born in 1939 on a farm in Longmont and moved with her family into the filling station when she was three, Barber said. She and her parents along with older brother Norman lived upstairs.
Barber learned how to help run the gas station’s soda fountain with her mother. Her dad and brother worked at the filling station. Her dad, she said, would gas up vehicles, check their tires and oil and clean the windshields.
“It’s what they called full service in those days,” Barber said.
During Saturday get-togethers, people would crowd the family living room and stretch into the backyard. “Everyone knows that on Saturday night, it’s party time,” she said.
She also remembers restrictions on food and other materials because of World War II. “There were green stamps and tokens that were issued so we could buy food and clothes,” Barber said. “There is no doubt we were like a lot of folks, we were poor. But we got by with what we had.”
She also remembers a huge party broke out on the day Japan surrendered in August 1945. As an eight year old she couldn’t quite grasp why people were so happy.
“People were dancing and clapping. I couldn’t figure out why everyone was having such a good time.”
The gas station was a happy place for customers while inside the family was falling apart.
Her troubled parents divorced and she was sent into foster care. Barker said her dad was an alcoholic and diabtetic and died at age 41. Her mother suffered from mental health problems and was in and out of institutions for most of her life, Barber said.
She worked several jobs while in foster care, learned how to drive and eventually returned to the Longmont area, where she is surrounded by her own family.
Barber said her memories of Johnson’s Corner were among her most treasured. “Everybody was a friend there,” she said.
