Hollenshades Auto Service

In 1939, on the same spot where Starbucks currently sits at the northwest corner of York Road and Burke Avenue, across from Towson University, C. Lee Hollenshade Jr. opened a Texaco gas station. Moving from west to east across Towson over 80 years and three different locations, the family-owned and -operated auto service business remains rooted in the community it serves. C. Lee Hollenshade III worked with his father during the World War II era while a student at Loyola High School, from which he graduated in 1944 before joining the Navy. After the war, C. Lee Hollenshade III, returned to the business and eventually inherited the station from his father. In 1972, Hollenshade’s, with the younger Hollenshade having brought two of his four children, Tom and Tim, on board as part-time workers while still students, moved to the corner of Goucher Boulevard and Putty Hill Avenue. Five years later, the expanding business headed about 2 miles northeast, settling at 1501 E. Joppa Road, where it still operates today.