The First Garages

• Garages are synonymous with automobiles. Garages were not a wholly new idea, however, when automobiles were invented. The earliest historical garages actually housed carriages and wagons in their previous life. When the automobile came along, residents would repurpose the carriage house to shelter the new automobile.
  
  

Filling Stations

• Historic garage: Old-fashioned filling stationGeorge Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images
  
  We don't find too many filling stations anymore. It used to be commonplace in America to pull into a small shop with a canopy over two gas pumps and find an attendant waiting. He'd ask what you needed and visit about the weather as he pumped gas into your car for you. He'd check your oil and wash your windows before you left.
  
  He was also the cashier and change maker. You never had to get out of the car if you didn't want to. Pay him through the window, exchange pleasantries and be on your way again. These places weren't called gas stations or even convenience stores. They were the local garage and a thing of history nowadays.
  
  

Historical Residential Garages

• If you're a connoisseur of historic architecture, you may prefer to think of historic garages as the small outbuildings often found behind the house of early 1900s American homes. The garage was not to be taken lightly in regards to appearance in those days. It was given the same care as the exterior of the house. It most often duplicated the style and look of the house, including cornice work and paint scheme.
  
  The style of the door can tell a practiced observer much about the era in which it was built.
  
  

Garages That Restore History

• Historic garage: Restoring historic carsJupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  A car buff would probably think of something totally different. Many historic garages are so called for what they put out the door and not what they are. Some garages specialize in the restoration of antique cars, trucks and motorcycles. If you find a 1947 Plymouth coupe in your great uncle's barn, you wouldn't take it to the local Speedway station to have it restored. But you could take it to the Black Horse Garage in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and benefit from its restoration services.