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Tank and Steel keeps its name photo by Drew Fleming By Sara Murphy ASHLAND � Folks at Oak Street Tank couldn�t take the street with them, but they have taken the company name across town. Leaving their longtime Railroad District home behind, Oak Street Tank and Steel employees moved to a brand new structure on East Jefferson Street just before Christmas. They�ll kindly keep their name, thank you. "The city wouldn�t allow us to pull up Oak Street and put it here," jokes Ed Laskos, sales manager. "It�s quite a problem changing something when you�ve had it so long," explains Gene Morris, company president. "Everybody will ask, �Why aren�t you on Oak Street?� "I guess that�s something we�ll have to explain to them." Newcomers to this tourism-driven town might say Morris has some more explaining to do: For starters, what is a manufacturing company doing in Ashland? The answer: Just what this fourth-generation family business has pretty much always done. They make tanks. "We make little tanks, we make big tanks," says Laskos, a son-in-law of Morris, whose grandfather started the business � then Lithia Garage � in 1912. "We think we�re the oldest manufacturing business in Ashland," Laskos adds. The company�s history, as far as tanks are concerned, dates back roughly 75 years, when the Morrises made the transition from mechanics to manufacturers. In 1925, Sim Morris and his son, Harry, opened Oak Street Garage at 101 Oak St. That building, owned by Floyd Whittle, was designed especially for the Morrises� garage, according to news reports. It was 34-by-100 feet; construction cost $6,000. Today, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is better known as Standing Stone Brewery. It was at that location, however, that the Morris garage and machine shop installed the first electric welding machine in Ashland. "Probably the same one we�ve got back there," jokes office manager Chris Morris, a daughter of Gene Morris. It�s also where the family started making fuel tanks in the 1930s, says Gene Morris. In 1944, his father, Harry Morris, moved the business to the corner of Oak and A streets and changed its name to Oak Street Tank and Steel. Today, Gene Morris� son Jim is general manager. Gene, now 74, continues to serve as president; his sister, Gayle, is vice president. The company currently employs nine people and sometimes staffs as many as 14, Laskos says. They make "thousands" of tanks a year, ranging in size from 90 to 30,000 gallons, he says. The tanks, which hold either fuel or water, are sold to retailers in Oregon and northern California. A 1,000 gallon tank retails for $705. "It�s kind of different for Ashland," says Gene Morris. Certainly, Ashland is known more for chic shops and Shakespeare than for soldering, but Oak Street Tank�s steel beams are supporting � quite literally � some of the city�s popular downtown restaurants, including Firefly, Martino�s and MoJo Cafi (which is set to open next month). Not coincidentally, however, those buildings were built or remodeled by Ashland developers Allan Sandler and Ed Bemis � the same duo that swapped Oak Street Tank�s old building for its new one. Sandler and Bemis are transforming the old building at Oak and A streets into the A Street Marketplace, an eclectic artisans mall the developers hope will become a destination, drawing chi-chi shoppers to the recently revitalized Railroad District. It�s planned to open this fall. In exchange for the old building, Sandler and Bemis built Oak Street Tank a new place to call home � an approximately 20,000-square-foot structure on two acres near the south Interstate 5 interchange. It�s a good location, Laskos says. "We�re better off here and I think the city�s better off, too." The Oak Street site was getting too crowded by traffic and people, he says. There were too many houses; the tank company made too much noise. "It�s no place for industry," Laskos says. Reach Ashland bureau reporter Sara Murphy at 482-4655, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.