Vineyard residents gathered Sunday in a jolly celebration of Ambler B. Wormley, a Black man who ran a gas station and auto repair business for 20 years in the first half of the 20th century.
David deBettencourt had the honor of removing the cover from the plaque and unveiling it on Sunday. One day in the 1940s, Wormley called out to David’s brother, Buddy, on the way home from school and asked if their father, Nelson, wanted to buy a garage.
The plaque “commemorates the African-American entrepreneurs, veterans and local politicians who purchased the gas station in 1929 and sold it to Nelson J. DeBettencourt in 1946. It expresses gratitude to the DeBettencourt family for bringing this history to the public’s attention.”
With the opening of Wormley’s Garage on New York Street, Martha’s Vineyard’s African American Heritage Trail now has 39 stops, including the nearby Powell House, once owned by U.S. Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and the home of author Dorothy West.
In front of a crowd of several dozen people, members of the trail’s board of directors publicly thanked the DeBettencourt family for preserving the Wormley story since Nelson DeBettencourt purchased their family business from Wormley in 1947.
Without the DeBettencourts, Wormley’s story as a black business owner would have been in danger of being forgotten.
Wormley was born in Virginia in 1892 and came to the Vineyard when he was 10 and grew up in Oak Bluffs. In 1926, he purchased the property where Barn Bowl and Bistro is now located. In the late 1920s, he opened the Socony Vacuum Oil Company gas station on New York Avenue in Oak Bluffs, where he also offered auto repair services. He also served on the Oak Bluffs Finance Committee for several years and was well known and respected in the community.
Joe Carter, who addressed the crowd Sunday morning, highlighted Wormley’s accomplishments as a business owner despite the challenges facing black men at the time. “He was born in Virginia in 1892, where the chances of success as an entrepreneur were slim,” Carter said.
“At a time when African Americans in most parts of the country were not allowed to participate in social and business life, Ambler B. Wormley refused to accept those restrictions and remains an exemplary figure and historical figure for us all,” he added.
Trail committee members also praised the DeBettencourts for preserving Wormley’s history.
The only surviving photograph of Wormley stands proudly outside the store in the deBettencourt family’s garage. “The deBettencourt family’s role in preserving Ambler Wormley’s story and promoting his recognition on the African-American heritage trail has been invaluable,” Carter said.
Mike DeBettencourt recalled Sunday that he was surprised by how often older relatives spoke about the man who bought the family business.
“Wormley must have been a special person because when my father and my aunts and uncles talked about buying companies, they always mentioned a certain Wormley,” de Bettencourt told the audience. “He must have been a special person to buy a company in America in the 1920s and do it.”
Following Sunday’s unveiling, a temporary plaque commemorating Wormley is being displayed outside the De Bettencourt & Sons Garage, which is part of Martha’s Vineyard’s Cultural Heritage Trail and Black Business Trail. The plaque will be replaced with a larger, permanent plaque.
