Fifth Wheel Truck Stops

The Fifth Wheel Truck Stops was a chain of truck stops, with locations in Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick. They also offered motel service, restaurants, and truck/RV cleaning.

Logo of the Fifth Wheel Truck Stops

The Milton location appeared in key scenes of the 1978 film High-Ballin'.[1]

History

The chain was founded in Milton, Ontario, with gasoline first being pumped there in February 1972 and a restaurant opening the following November.[2] It was founded by Lewis Loveridge and Claude Warren,[3] with Jim Powers owning the adjoining restaurant.[2] It was the first full-service truck stop to be established in Canada.[2]

In addition to Milton, it opened truck stops in other locations:[4][5][6]

In 1992, the Open Road Chapel was formed, with its first nondenominational chapel set up at the Fifth Wheel in Milton.[7] Between 1993 and 2010, further chapels were established at Fifth Wheel's other Southern Ontario locations, which laid the base for expansion to other sites across Canada.[8]

In 1993, the chain's business model was converted to that of a franchising operation.[9]

The Fifth Wheel faced competition from the TravelCenters of America and Flying J chains. The chain closed in September 2015.[10][11]

References
  1. Downs, Roy (December 28, 1977). "Action movie filmed in Milton". The Canadian Champion. Milton. p. B8.
  2. Hauprich-Nielsen, Ann (March 5, 1975). "This truck stop has EVERYthing!" (PDF). The Canadian Champion. Milton. p. B1.
  3. Hauprich-Nielsen, Ann (March 5, 1975). "Two former drivers own truck stop" (PDF). The Canadian Champion. Milton. p. B1.
  4. Downs, Roy (November 22, 1978). "Fifth Wheel opens No. 3, plans two more in 1979" (PDF). The Canadian Champion. Milton. p. 6.
  5. "Fifth Wheel opened in New Brunswick" (PDF). The Canadian Champion. Milton. November 7, 1984. p. RE2.
  6. "Grimsby truck stop moves on for housing". CHCH. Hamilton. September 17, 2015.
  7. Scrivener, Leslie (January 14, 2007). "Highway to heaven". The Toronto Star.
  8. "Open Road Chapels: History". openroadchapels.ca. 2016.
  9. "Canadian trade-mark data: Registration number TMA480438". Canadian Intellectual Property Office.
  10. O'Meara, Jennifer (September 17, 2015). "Bowmanville 5th Wheel to close". Clarington This Week.
  11. "Fermeture de plusieurs Fifth Wheel Truck Stop en Ontario" [Several Fifth Wheel Truck Stops closing in Ontario]. Truck Stop Québec (in French). September 27, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.