O’Brien Tire & Auto Care: A Route 66 Legacy of Service and Community

The Buenger Era

There is nothing so constant in life as change, and while Bruce Marler continued to build up O’Brien’s Tire and Auto Service business, there was yet another change coming. Marler’s improvements had included hiring an ambitious young man named Earl Buenger (pronounced “Binger”) who fit in just fine at the garage and who was determined to make a living and a career of it. Marler actually hired Buenger away from his job at an upholstery shop around the corner on Pontoon Road, where Buenger lived upstairs.

By the time that Marler was ready to retire in 1970, Buenger had married, and he and his wife Marcia were ready to take over O’Brien’s. After retirement, Marler and his wife Inge followed Jim O’Brien, his foster father, to Mountain Home, Arkansas, where he raised cattle and dabbled in land development. Earl and Marcia Buenger continued to expand the business and put their own stamp upon it but kept the O’Brien name. They added brand names to their tire inventory, and in 1976, constructed a large four-bay separate building in which to offer a full line-up of auto care services.

To accommodate the new building, they needed more property and purchased an adjacent lot formerly occupied by Bolliger’s Upholstery — Earl Buenger’s former place of employment. The building fronting the property, which Marler had constructed, was devoted to their tire sales and service.

Mark and Scott, Earl and Marcia’s two sons, soon joined their father working in the business. “Mark and Scott worked there as kids. Scott remembers stocking shelves with oil and filters. Mark graduated from Granite City High School in 1976, and Scott went to Eastern Illinois University and graduated in 1984,” Scott’s wife, Beth, explained. “All four of them were involved in the business up until March 1992, when one day Scott said, ‘Okay, he’s [Earl] done.’ They got the papers together for Mark and Scott to sign to purchase the business, and Earl and Marcia were ready to walk away.” Mark and Scott were ready for a smooth transition to take over the operation, which at that time still included a gas station. But that would change. “Back in the ‘90s, the EPA was looking for leaking tanks and testing the ground,” Beth said. “Our tanks were old, and they dug them up. That’s when we stopped being a gas station, after being a gas station [ever] since William Kirchner’s business.”

An Overpass and More Changes

Through the decades, as Nameoki Road carried U.S. Highway 66 and later Illinois Route 203, an important arterial connecting Granite City and Madison with I-255 to the north and I-55/70 to the south, the traffic upon it increased exponentially. By the 2000s, the impact of heavy traffic on Nameoki was significant, particularly at the big bend in the road which also coincided with the intersection of Pontoon Road, another area connector. O’Brien’s stood on the southeast corner of this intersection. The construction of the Pontoon Road overpass over Nameoki Road in 2008-2010 eased the heavy traffic situation, but it caused brand new problems.

Numerous businesses and residences were condemned and razed to accommodate the overpass and its ramps. The grade of the new overpass for Pontoon Road along the north side of the O’Brien business hemmed it in, eliminating access and parking. Brothers Mark and Scott solved the problem by acquiring a property with an unused building on the south side of their business, razing the old structure upon it, and paving a large parking lot. A decade ago, the Buenger family expanded their presence in the business when Scott and Beth’s son, Ian, joined the company, and Scott’s wife Beth also became active, concentrating on marketing the business.

A fun vacation on Route 66 provided the impetus for some re-branding, and Beth remembered the moment it hit her. “Scott and I were in Williams, Arizona, in 2015 on our way to the Grand Canyon, and we heard about it being Route 66. You know, you didn’t grow up without knowing what Route 66 was, with the show on TV and the song, so everybody knew about Route 66,” said Beth. “I picked up one of the Route 66 books and there was a section about Illinois. I read a sentence that said Nameoki Road was Route 66, and I was just flabbergasted. Earl didn’t know about it. Scott and his brother didn’t know about it.

No one in Granite City even talked about it [at the time]. But that’s where it all started for us.” Scott and Beth’s love for RVing, not to mention their sudden interest in Route 66, gave them the idea to host RVers traveling in the southwest Illinois/greater St. Louis region. They are now members of the Harvest Hosts program, an innovative idea which allows RV travelers with subscriptions to the service to park overnight at businesses and attractions across the U.S.

Into the Future on Route 66

The neon sign at the front of their property was Beth’s idea, as is promoting the business’s new-found legacy on the Mother Road. The stylish customer waiting room has benefited from Beth’s decorating touch, too. A comfortable sitting area is outfitted with Mid- Century Modern furniture complimented by Route 66 décor on the walls and Route 66 publications awaiting perusal. “As my interest in and knowledge about the Mother Road grew, I was surprised that it had escaped so many people that Route 66 was a part of Granite City.

I kept hoping for more recognition for the City’s location on original Route 66.” There is a strong likelihood that O’Brien Tire & Auto Care is the oldest continuously operated auto garage on the Mother Road. Today, O’Brien Tire & Auto Care offers full-service car care and a couple dozen brands of tires, touting “triple crown” service as an AAA-approved auto repair facility, a NAPA AutoCare Center, and a TechNet AutoCare Center. They pride themselves on outstanding customer service, and their family tradition of giving back to the community through service and donations, plus their longevity adds a personal hometown touch. Meanwhile, Beth is quick to acknowledge the new surge in interest locally due to murals, the new It’s Electric Neon Park and entertainment venue The Mill, which both opened in the summer of 2024, plus plenty of promotion accomplished through the efforts of Mayor Mike Parkinson, Arts and Tourism Director Brenda Whittaker, and Great Rivers and Routes Tourism Bureau CEO Cory Jobe.

Although all those new attractions are in downtown Granite City, Beth knows that she is playing a part now in keeping Route 66 alive on their stretch of America’s most beloved highway. “Over the years, I started putting up Route 66 signs and talking to more and more customers about it. I’ve learned more about it and about the decommissioning of it and how the highway changed.” Nestled in the curve of Nameoki Road on an early alignment of U.S. Highway 66 stands O’Brien Tire & Auto Care. From its humble beginnings to its establishment as O’Brien Tire in 1932 to its stance now as a modern, family-owned auto service center, this is a destination that has survived through the Great Depression and flourished through the post-war boom.

The legacy of a century or more of constant service in one spot along the world’s most famous road isn’t far from their thoughts even as they celebrate their own family’s tenure here for over 50 years. The tenacity of this business may be due to the forethought of its early owners and to the business sense of its most recent owners. As we reflect back on road travel over the decades, O’Brien’s is an example of the mom-and-pop type of businesses that rose up to meet the challenges and needs of the hordes of excited motorists. Outside of O’Brien’s is retro cool.