MONTICELLO, FL \u2014 Monticello says goodbye to a local landmark as Stewart\u2019s Full Service Station closes after 43 years.<\/p>\n
Stewart\u2019s Full Service Gas Station in Monticello was located near the county courthouse.The closure continues a trend for full-service stations nationwide.Watch the video to hear what the owner and neighbors had to say about Stewart’s and the closure.<\/p>\n
Monticello’s last full service gas station closes after 43 years<\/p>\n
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe gonna miss him. We gonna miss this station being here,\u201d said neighbor Sammy Gray.<\/p>\n
After 43 years, the last full-service gas station in Monticello has closed. Stewart\u2019s has fueled more than just cars. It\u2019s fueled connection and community for generations.<\/p>\n
For more than four decades, Stewart\u2019s Full Service Station stood in the shadow of the Jefferson County Courthouse in the center of Monticello.<\/p>\n
It was a place where someone knew your name, filled your tank, checked your oil, and asked about your family before you left.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve always been able to come up here and sit around and shoot the bull, and I don’t know what I’m gonna do now. I ain’t gonna have no place to go,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n
Full-service stations like Stewart\u2019s have faded across the country as costs rise and technology changes the way people buy gas.<\/p>\n
Owner Stewart Wheeler says this closing hits deeper because Stewart\u2019s was never just a business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis station’s been my life mostly, and it’s been good to me. I raised three kids off this business. Now it’s time to turn the page, and let the next chapter begin,\u201d Wheeler said.<\/p>\n
For longtime friends Sammy Gray and C.T. Miller, the closing marks both an ending and a reminder of what small-town life represents.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime you have businesses shut down in your community, it hurts the tax base of our community,\u201d said Miller.<\/p>\n
The Jefferson County Economic Development Office reports more than 90 percent of non-farm private jobs here come from small businesses. Many are family-run just like Stewart\u2019s. That\u2019s part of the county\u2019s rural identity and its resilience.<\/p>\n
Wheeler says he will continue his towing business but looks forward to having more time with his wife and doing the things he hasn\u2019t been able to do in 43 years.<\/p>\n
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