The automobile industry grew rapidly between the 1920s and the 1930s, when a variety of garages opened in Dauphin.

Texaco was profiting heavily off the demand for cars. Originally based in Canada and known as Frontenac when they formed in 1873, the company had seen significant changes. In 1927, Frontenac merged with another Canadian oil company, the McColl Brothers, and the American Texas Company became their majority shareholder.

Texaco hired commercial artist William Teague to design their garages across North America. Inspired by a trip he had taken to France, Teague designed new Texaco garages in the Art Deco and Art Moderne styles.

Dauphin’s 1936 Texaco station was designed by Teague, meeting all the markers for a standard Texaco garage. The façade is white stucco with forest green stripes. Rounded corners give it a stream-lined appearance, exuding all of the flair and potential of modern-age technology. At the stations center is a vertical, rounded, tower which featured the Texaco name. Two garage doors sit on opposite sides of the theatrical office entrance. Above the doorway was once a large billboard, which extended above the flat roofline.

Though the building no longer functions as a garage, it remains an impressive piece of Art Moderne architecture.