O’Brien Tire & Auto Care in Granite City, Illinois, will be serving complimentary food and drinks from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 15 to mark its 118th year in business.
That’s not a typo. Yes, the shop at O’Brien Tire at 3924 Nameoki Road (aka Route 66) has been around for nearly 120 years.
It claims to be not only the oldest continuously operating tire and auto repair shop but in America.
Beth Buenger of the shop wrote in an email:
O’Brien Tire & Auto Care is thrilled to be the torchbearer that continues to honor the Route 66 tradition of a small mom-and-pop auto repair “garage” that has never closed its doors: through depressions, recessions, re-routing roads, the advent of the interstate, takeovers of small biz by Walmarts and other big box chains such as Valvoline, Meineke, Car-X, AutoTire, TireChoice, Dobbs and other regional tire and auto repair facilities who have been our competitor for more than 50 years. We have a 4.8 Google rating, with over 700 reviews; over 950 5-star reviews in total on our website.
The O’Brien website has this history of the shop:
Established in 1906, the service station (or “garage” as repairs shops were called back then) was a part of Kirchner’s Hardware. Jim O’Brien, the business’ namesake, purchased the garage on St Patrick’s Day in 1932, as befitting a good Irishman. After the Korean War, Earl Buenger took his first job here as a tire technician.
Since 1970, O’Brien Tire & Auto has been owned by the Buenger family, whose ancestral roots to Granite City go back to the mid-1800s as a farming family on Chouteau Island and as well-known businessmen.
Also, Buenger wrote in her email that O’Brien Tire and Auto Care has commissioned artwork from noted Route 66 artist and researcher Jerry McClanahan. They hoped to unveil that piece by the shop’s 120th anniversary in 2026, which also happens to be Route 66’s centennial year.
Two years ago, O’Brien Tire earned a $1,000 grant from the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway to paint a Route 66 mural on the shop’s exterior.
Buenger spent about $35,000 returning the shop to a Route 66 theme, with midcentury furniture, turquoise-colored bathroom tile, new flooring, a neon sign and the “largest tire on Route 66” outside of its building. The tire is eight feet tall and weighs 12,000 pounds.
(Images of O’Brien Tire and Auto from the early 1900s to now via its website)