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Knox Heritage becomes new owner of landmark Airplane Filling Station

The iconic airplane filling station on Clinton Highway is now owned by Knox Heritage, thanks to the AFSPA.

The Airplane Filling Station Preservation Association (AFSPA) has now given the iconic airplane building on Clinton Highway to Knox Heritage.

Knox Heritage, a nonprofit historic preservation organization for Knox County and East Tennessee, has been working with the AFSPA for several years.

"We are honored to have been selected by the AFSPA to assume ownership of this amazing restoration project”, said Todd Morgan, Executive Director of Knox Heritage.

The iconic airplane on Clinton Highway was originally created as a gas station in 1931 by the Nickle brothers. The brothers' hope was to attract locals to stop at their unique looking gas station rather than other stations.

The gas station stopped pumping by 1970 and was used as a liquor store, a produce stand, a bait-and-tackle shop, and even a used car lot before being neglected in 2002.

Powell native and founding member of AFSPA Tom Milligan bought the landmark and started restoring it in 2003 with the help of the AFSPA and Dr. Tim Ezzell, who assigned some of his grad students from the University of Tennessee to help nominate the plane for the National Register of Historic Places.

The Airplane Filling Station is now home to John's Barber Shop and has before and after pictures of the restoration inside the plane.

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