STONY RIDGE — After 60-plus years in business, Haas Service Station will close its doors by the end of this year.

The property is on the real estate market, and unless someone purchases the station, which includes 3.59 acres and four lots, and keeps it operating as a gas station and automobile repair shop, it will mark the end of a Stony Ridge landmark.

Current co-owners Terry Haas and Don Waters are closing in on retirement, but it was their father, stepfather and uncle, the late brothers Clarence Haas and Eugene “Speed” Haas, who built the business.

The Haas family has owned and operated the station since 1962, and to this day it is a full-service station.

That means when you purchase gas, you still get your gas pumped for you, your windows cleaned, and if you want, your oil and water levels checked.

To the people of Stony Ridge, the business meant much more than that.

“I will say the gas station was good toward the community,” said Clarence’s widow, Maxine Haas. “They gave gas away to the park at one time and to the church at one time.”

Maxine and Clarence also owned Pee Wee’s Dairy Snak, still in operation and managed today by Maxine’s grandson, but she still owns the business.

For 60 years, Pee Wee’s, named for Everett “Pee Wee” Haas, who built the restaurant, has been a staple eatery in Wood County.

Everett owned the Dari Snak business until his death in 1976. In a sense, for over a half century the Haas family were the proprietors of what could be called downtown Stony Ridge.

At one time, Everett Haas also owned and operated a nearby barber shop next door to the restaurant, so you can include a third business to the Haas family legacy.

When the barber shop closed, Everett’s other daughter, Elizabeth Ann, had a card and gift shop at the location. In 1987, she put in Liz’s Country Fitness, which employed exercise tables for passive exercise.

The Haas family’s pride in their businesses meant hours on end for Clarence and Speed.

“They were workers,” Maxine Haas said. “Clarence was so busy with what he did.

“He had the fire station (township fire chief), he had the Dairy Snak, he had Haas Service Station, and he helped me with closing every night at the Dairy Snak. He just was excellent.”

According to Terry Haas, Speed got his nickname because he made sure his customers got the best service.

“What I heard is, well before I started working here, is that he was so fast out to the pumps, he was out there waiting on the gas customers before the bell even rang, so they called him Speedy, so he picked up that nickname,” said Terry Haas.

Terry, who is Clarence’s son, and Don, who is Maxine’s son, are stepbrothers, and both began working at the service station in their early teenage years.

“My dad, my uncle, my mentors, and my bosses — they taught me a lot,” Terry said.

Nearly 100 years

The service station’s history dates back even further, 96 years, to 1927, when the Standard Oil Company bought the land from Herman Franz. They put up a bulk station, according to Maxine Haas.

William Kruse, who worked for Standard Oil in Woodville, was put in charge and Walter Franz worked for him at the Stony Ridge station.

Then, John Peterson moved into town and managed it for a few years, followed by Julius Herman, who took over with his son-in-law Erv Neidermeier, who came to work for him in 1931.

Then Neidermeier, who Maxine credits with first nicknaming her brother-in-law Speed, bought the station from Standard Oil.

It was in 1950 that Clarence Haas came to work for Erv Neidermeier and in 1962, Clarence bought an interest in the business with Neidermeier.

There are acknowledgements to Clarence and Speed’s diligence to the shop in the book “Voices of the Pike,” which was published by the Stony Ridge Civic Club Association on Stony Ridge’s 125th anniversary in 1997.

“When we got older my friends and I got cars,” wrote Bill Coy, one of multiple authors relating personal experiences.

“When they broke down it seemed Clarence and Speed Haas at Neidermeier’s Gas Station could get them running. I remember their favorite muffler, which they called a Neidermeier Special. We liked them but the state highway patrol did not.”

In 1971, Neidermeier retired, and Clarence and Eugene became the owners. In 1984, they put an addition on the back and in 1989 all of the underground tanks had to be replaced.

It was a Sohio Service Station until May 1991, then BP bought out Standard Oil. In 1997, the affiliation with BP ended and the gas station went independent.

In 1994, Clarence bought out Ryan’s Bar next door and demolished it for a parking lot. Eugene Haas retired in 2011 after 58 years and Clarence bought him out.

According to Maxine, in 2017, Clarence gave the business to Terry Haas and Don Waters but he still owned the real estate and the buildings.