The Wadhams Station in West Allis, located at South 76th Street and West National Avenue, was built in 1927. Harger W. Dodge, a son-in-law of Edward A. Wadhams, inherited the Wadhams Oil and Grease Company of Milwaukee in 1916. Responding to the merchandising problems of the new petroleum industry, Dodge set out to make his retail gasoline stations both utilitarian and aesthetically appealing.

He hired Milwaukee’s most prominent society architect, Alexander C. Eschweiler, to design a prototype gasoline station. Eschweiler may have chosen the oriental design for two reasons: the first was that the Japanese model had been established in the Midwest as a viable model for architecture at the Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Louis World Fairs of 1876, 1893 and 1904 respectively. The second possibility was that he was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in designing the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. The station in West Allis was designed and built by Hugo C. Hauser of Milwaukee .

The Wadhams “oriental” station was incredibly successful, resulting in the building of over one hundred such structures between 1917 and 1930 throughout the Upper Midwest. Its unique characteristics included white painted brick walls, wood framed roof covered with stamped metal tile painted red, and stained glass windows on the north and south elevations. The stained glass windows are yellow displaying a large red “W” to advertise the company. The tile was manufactured by Bauer and Ward Sheet Metal Company; the brick came from Rickertson and Schwartz Brick Company.

Frank Seneca leased the station from Wadhams in 1938 until he retired in 1978. Restored in 1999-2000 by the City of West Allis Department of Development, the interior currently displays many artifacts from Wadhams and Mobil.