By Dave Matlow
After 80 years in one family, Westport’s Citgo gas station, 786 Post Road East, will go up for sale next week.
Kurt Osterberg has worked at the gas station his grandfather founded since 1986. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Kurt Osterberg, grandson of Joe DeMattia, the founder of the business, and an employee since 1986, confirmed the divestiture plan and merely cited the economy. The current owner of the business is Osterberg’s mother, Gloria, 75, who resides in Niantic with her husband Ken, 80.
Osterberg said when his grandfather started the business at its current location in 1931 or 1932, they pumped Standard Oil gas.
Then in the late 1930s, the station switched to the Shell brand which continued for about 50 years, then converted to the Texaco brand for about 10 years and then Citgo from the mid-1990s, he said.
In addition to the gas station business, the DeMattia Fuel Company was formed in 1950 to sell home heating oil, Osterberg said. He said it was sold in June to McGoldrick Fuel of Fairfield.
“This is the end of an era for our family,” said Osterberg, 45. “I started pumping gas here when I was 10 years old.”
Osterberg, who was born and raised in Fairfield, has been an assistant hockey coach in Trumbull since 1998.
His wife Allison works in the Trumbull school system as a para educator for special needs children.
