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Remember When, Chattanooga? Steve Ray’s Neighborhood Chevron opened in 1983

Contributed photo / This 1983 photo of an iconic Ooltewah Service Station — Steve Ray's Chevron — was taken when gas was $1.10 a gallon. Ray still owns and operates the business, which is now called Steve Ray's Midnite Oil and Tire. Contributed photo / This 1983 photo of an iconic Ooltewah Service Station — Steve Ray's Chevron — was taken when gas was $1.10 a gallon. Ray still owns and operates the business, which is now called Steve Ray's Midnite Oil and Tire.

By Mark Kennedy July 25, 2025 3 min read

When Steve Ray bought his service station in 1983, gas was $1.10 a gallon and gas stations in Ooltewah were few and far between.

Today, gas costs more than twice that much, and Ooltewah is a bustling bedroom community. But Ray’s station, now called Steve Ray’s Midnite Oil and Tire, has been a constant in Ooltewah for more than 40 years.

“I tell everybody it’s a dinosaur,” said Ray, who has changed the footprint of the building several times over the years.

The accompanying photo was taken in December 1983, Ray said, shortly after he purchased the property, which had been shuttered for some time. Ray said when he worked in sales for Chevron it was common knowledge that the Ooltewah Chevron station, as countless others like it, was built from a Frank Lloyd Wright design.