DX Station Explosion

This undated picture shows Earl “Corky” Adamson standing in front of Smith’s DX station. The picture is undated, but Corky appears to be a teenager. The station stood at the corner of 5th Street and Hiway 5 where P. and E. Engineering Co. now stands. This article, dated March 6, 1962, is from a scrapbook compiled by Blanche Lanning. The scrapbook can be found in the Carlisle Library. “CARLISLE, IA. Fire, originating from a gasoline explosion, destroyed Smith’s DX Service Station on Highway 60. John R. Smith, owner and operator of the station for 30 years, said he was running gasoline from a transport truck into the service station’s underground tank at 7:40 a.m.
The tank ran over and some of the gasoline ran into the service station basement. Smith ran to the basement, shut off the oil furnace and rushed upstairs to get a garden hose to wash away the spilled gasoline. ‘Just then there was an explosion,’ he said. The Carlisle fire department fought the blaze for three hours but the building burned to the ground. Smith, and his son-in-law, Glenn Crum, succeeded in moving the gasoline transport truck away from the station and in getting an auto that was being serviced out of the station garage. Smith also was able to carry out the station cash register containing about $500. Smith set his loss at $35,000 only a small portion of which was covered by insurance."