It has been ages since the interior of the old Conoco station on Helper’s south Main Street smelled of fresh paint, since sunlight streamed into the building through clean windows, since the hardwood floor in the parts department was stained and buffed to a shine.
“I’m really glad we were able to save that floor,” says Gary Devincent, the man behind the year-long renovation project. The floor had water damage from a leaking roof. But like the rest of the building, it was a part of history worth saving. The run-down building was also right at the south entry to town, not exactly an iconic gateway image.
So Devincent, a passionate restorer of old cars, motorcycles and one pioneer home, decided the Conoco station would be an ideal project. But first he had to discover Helper.
That story traces back to the restored home he speaks of. It was “a really cool rock house, the first or one of the first in American Fork,” and worth preserving, he says. “Then UDOT came and tore it down. I was just sick. Then I found Helper and just fell in love with the whole town.”
The old gas station now looks brand new, roof to floors, inside and out, electrical work with illuminated gas pumps and sign. It has come down to detail work.
Devincent says that in Salt Lake, where he now lives, it seems that no one cares that much about the past. “Here, everybody has a story.”
The stories have multiplied since he and his brother Bobby have begun work on the old Point After Lounge and an adjacent building further north on Main Street. The building that abutted the Point After had to be torn down last week on the recommendation of an engineer, who advised that if was a public safety hazard. Devincent says it was scary even going in there to check it out. He has been told that the demolished building was last used as a dry cleaners.
As for the Point After, that’s the place that passers-by comment about. “They tell me they had the wildest time, danced all night. They ask for bricks and I say go ahead and take them,” he adds. Someone even asked for some drink coasters that probably dated back to the 1970s and were covered with dirt and dust.
“There’s so much stuff in there,” Devincent says. “It’s all debris except for sentimental value. I found a stash of old plates and coffee mugs in there. I’ll probably use them myself.”
The Point After project so far has been sort of an archaeological dig. There are signs in the surface fixtures of the heyday, when the place was a popular restaurant, watering hole and disco. Go down a layer and there are signs of the 1930s. Behind the newer walls is wallpaper from another era.
A passer-by can look through the gaping hole in the exterior wall into the lounge and the staircase leading to upstairs apartments. It’s a complete mess and likely to take a long time to restore. That’s fine with Devincent.
No plans to sell
“At the end of the day, it’s very rewarding to see progress being made,” he says. For now, that is reward enough. He says he has no plans to sell either the service station or the lounge when it is done. “I’ve put too much heart and soul into them,” he explains. It’s not that he wouldn’t sell, but that would only happen if the sale made his next project possible.
Devincent does have his “druthers” for the Point After. He’d like to see a nice Italian or Mexican restaurant go in. Or maybe he’d use some of the space in one of the buildings as a small museum to showcase his restored vintage motorcycles.
Whatever future uses the buildings may find, they will look upscale, and that is what he says makes it all worthwhile for him.