Tuesday, March 31 was a bittersweet day for Newtown residents and passersby, as the full-service gas station at 47 Church Hill Road closed its doors for the last time at 4 pm.

The gas station, also known as Wheels 190, was located across from the St Rose of Lima Church campus. The property is currently owned by Global Montello Group Corp, an energy supply company based in Waltham, Mass., according to Newtown's online Assessor's Database.

Tina Keeler, store manager for the 47 Church Hill Road gas station, was one of the gas station's four employees. She said they received two days’ notice from Global Montello that the location would close.

She posted on a local Facebook group announcing the news on Monday, March 30.

"Today has been a very emotional, overwhelming day because we’re closing down. We’ve been here for so long," Keeler told The Newtown Bee on March 30.

According to Keeler, she and the gas station's other employees are going to other stores: two to Danbury, another to the Mobil on Route 25, and one to another store further down Church Hill Road. Keeler is one of the two employees going to Danbury.

Many people stopped by the small gas station throughout Monday and Tuesday to share memories and give a warm goodbye to the location's employees.

Keeler said the gas station was always quite busy, and a lot of the community's elderly people would stop by.

"'Cause a lot of them can't get out of their cars, or they're disabled, so it's going to be very bittersweet for them, too," Keeler said.

She added that a lot of people would visit 47 Church Hill Road from Southbury, such as residents of the 55+ adult community Heritage Village.

"They all came here for gas," Keeler said.

The 400-square-foot single-story building was constructed in 1914. The building’s lot is 3.27 acres.

47 Church Hill Road originally opened as a service station. It was later converted to Newtown's first location dedicated to showing movies, from approximately 1920-1931, before reverting to a service station.

In January 2008, the Borough Zoning Commission approved a proposal to demolish the gas station and replace it with a modern multi-pump Citgo facility plus convenience store.

The gas station would have been replaced by a 3,200 square-foot traditional-style structure, including the convenience store, and eight gas pumps situated beneath a 16-foot-high canopy.

While the project never came to fruition, it did also receive approval from the Inland Wetlands Commission and the Police Commission.

For Keeler, she said June would have marked four years of working at Wheels 190. However, she also worked at the gas station around 20 years ago, before it was corporate-owned.

Keeler said she and the location's other employees "kind of knew [the closure] was coming, we just didn't know when."

"I had a feeling," Keeler said. "I just didn't know it was gonna happen so quickly."

The Newtown Bee reached out to Global Montello as to what will happen to the property, but did not receive a response before press time on April 1.

Keeler thanked everyone for their patronage over the years, adding that she will miss seeing everyone's faces.

Now, if someone were to visit the 47 Church Hill Road gas station, they would find caution tape wrapped around the location's two pumps.

On each of the pumps, and on the inside of the gas station's windowsills, is a note from the Wheels 190 staff: "As of 4 pm today, 3/31/26, this location is permanently closed. We thank you all for your patronage. We will miss you. Sincerely, The Staff at Wheels 190 — Tina, Justin, Spyke, and Nick."

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.