Afton Station Packard Museum, a privately owned automotive museum on U.S. Route 66 in Afton, Oklahoma, is situated in a restored 1930s Eagle D-X filling station. It houses a showroom, 18 Packards & other vintage automobiles plus a collection of Route 66 memorabilia, including items from the now-demolished Buffalo Ranch Trading Post.A restored set of historic D-X fuel pumps stands in the old station's forecourt and the red and white on blue "Approved Packard Service" dealership logo is proudly displayed atop a signpost.As a Route 66 information stop for travelers, who come from as far afield as Europe, Australia, and Asia, the station/welcome center distributes maps, guidebooks and memorabilia as well as word-of-mouth information about The Mother Road.HistoryAfton, established 1886 and named for River Afton in Scotland by a railroad surveyor, was once home to a railroad repair facility, turntable and roundhouse. The locomotive repair facility closed in the 1930s, soon after the 1926 designation of U.S. Route 66 in the area. The Eagle D-X station opened in 1933 and has sold various brands of fuel under different owners over the years. In its 1940s heyday, it was one of three stations in a four-block section of US 66. A 1981 photo shows the station as a tin-roof structure with three modern D-X fuel pumps in the forecourt. It was the first 24-hour filling station on Route 66.The town depended on Route 66 as its economic lifeblood until the construction of Interstate 44 in Oklahoma in 1957 sent the community into decline. Various motels and cafés closed their doors forever; the Buffalo Ranch Trading Post closed upon its owner Aleene Albro's demise in 1997 and was demolished in 2002.
