The Teapot Dome scandal was a calamity in 1921-1923 involving President Harding's administration’s Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall, who was accused of accepting bribes from oil companies involving Navy petroleum reserves in Teapot Dome, Wyoming. The Teapot Dome shown here opened in 1924 after renovating the former warehouse of the Hardee Company at the corner of Madison St and Ashley Dr. The company gave away a free quart of oil to customers on opening day.  Records are scarce as to the naming of the station and its relationship to the scandal, but the timing looks too coincidental not to be related. The scandal dragged on for years with senate hearings and other legal proceedings.

This was the headquarters for the Tampa Rubber Tires Company when it opened. The service station offered filling stations, a garage hoist, wash racks, a battery department, and storage space for 200 cars.  The structure eventually became exclusively a storage garage. An entrance off of Ashley Dr led to a concrete car ramp to the second floor. In 1971, the construction of the First Financial Tower began. The 36-story building cost $ 20 million and housed the First Financial Bank of Tampa and GTE Data Services. It sold in 2016 for $79.75- million after an extensive renovation.

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