The front yard of Mark Cossette’s home at 1414 Second Ave. N. hints at the early service station treasures — and more — that surround it, inside and out. (Photos/Nancy Hanson.)

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

The history of motoring marks a quiet avenue on the north side of Moorhead – an unexpected trip back to the days of Mobilgas, Standard and Texaco, clock-faced gas pumps and well-worn trucks, oil cans and classic signage and vintage pop machines.
From the curbside view to the carport on his driveway, plus the entire yard surrounding Mark Cossette’s home, once-familiar gas station equipment harkens back to far earlier days of motoring. Nearly forgotten names embellish the colorful restored pumps, some dating back to the early 1930s. Oil lubesters and a couple of Indian motorcycles lean against the picket fence that surrounds the property.
More long-familiar gas-station gear fills the garage and workshop where the collector restores his “finds” to mint condition. And inside the house? Another gas pump guards his living room, where die-cast miniatures and a queue of lovingly preserved pedal cars lines up in front of the sofa.
“I grew up in the ‘60s. The smells, the signs, the gas pumps of those old service stations – I loved it,” the collector reminisces. “I built a car court beside the house about 10 years ago. I thought it looked pretty cool, so I bought drove out to Lake Park and bought a Martin and Schwartz pump from the 1950s and a Polly Gas globe pump. I did my research on their original look and took my time. They went out there.
“Now, 42 pumps later, I guess I can’t stop.”
He had no intention of selling his lovingly refurbished pump and those that followed – not until a fellow collector offered him $1,200. “I told him, ‘It’s yours,’” Cossette laughs. Today, after many such transactions, the Fargo native’s collection presently numbers 21. As some have been sold over the years, he has replaced them with others. Among his favorites; a Gilbert and Barker clock-face pump and Wayne 40 from the 1930s and a Visible from the early 1900s.
Cossette, who manages the warehouse at Karl’s TV and Appliance in Fargo, has hunted gas station memorabilia and other automotive antiques throughout Minnesota and North Dakota, often locates his next pumps on Facebook’s Man’s Barter Red River Valley, a buy-and-sell page with 110,000 followers.
But he’s also open to other automotive-related antiques. One is his collection of 18 kid-sized pedal cars. “When I was growing up, our neighbors had one, and I really liked it,” he remembers. “As I got older, I thought I’d like to finally have my own … and I just kept collecting.”
Second Avenue, he says, sees a certain amount of traffic these days, as visitors – fellow collectors and the just-plain-curious – slow down to drive by his address. From curbside, they can get a glimpse of the two gas stations he’s set up behind the house as well as his front yard vista, with its slice of old Ford truck. They’re visible around the clock, lighted at night after the fashion of the gas stations they emulate.
The one-of-a-kind display earned a touch of fame in 2016, when a curious passerby returned with friends, then made Cossette an offer that put his yard on the map: Could the Soroptimists feature his yard in their annual garden tour? That drew crowds, not only automobile lovers and gardeners to admire the perennial and annual flowers and plants that highlight the mulch-covered ground surrounding the antiques.
Cossette, who grew up in Fargo, has always loved cars. A self-described “motorhead,” he used to race cars, remembering driving a 1969 Pontiac Catalina down old Highway 52 as a younger man.
Now that love is mostly confined to memories embodied in his non-moving automotive history park.
“I had no idea how far I’d take this,” he observes, scanning his unique landscape. “And I’m still doing it.”