Short answers, pulled from the story.
The first known filling station was the city pharmacy in Wiesloch, Germany, where Bertha Benz refueled the first automobile during its maiden trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim in 1888. The world's first purpose-built filling station was constructed in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1905 at 420 South Theresa Avenue.
"Petrol" was originally a brand name owned by Carless Refining and Marketing Ltd, a company that sold petroleum distillate as a mineral oil solvent. It became the generic term across much of the English-speaking world outside North America. In the United States and Canada, gasoline engines dominated early motoring, so "gas" became the everyday shorthand.
No. New Jersey has prohibited self-service since 1949 under the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act. Attendants are legally required to pump gasoline for customers. The only exception is a filling station next to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Wrightstown.
People who live near filling stations face an increased lifetime risk of cancer from exposure to benzene, which causes leukemia and is linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma. There is also some evidence connecting proximity to filling stations with childhood leukemia. Short-term benzene spikes occur during tanker truck fuel deliveries.
An analysis of residential properties in Cuyahoga County, Ohio found a loss of about 17% in home value when a property was within 300 feet of a registered leaking underground tank. A study in Xuancheng, China found that active filling stations reduce property values by 16% within 100 metres and by 9% between 301 metres and 600 metres.
Japan legalized self-service filling stations in 1998, following the abolition of the Special Petroleum Law, which triggered deregulation of the petroleum industry. Under current regulations, at least one fuel attendant must still be present at all self-service stations to oversee safety.