Our History

Grimmer's Service Inc. has had a long, rich history. Learn more about us in these excerpts from our article in the Post-Tribune!

“Like his father before him, Grimmer owns and operates Grimmer’s Service Inc., located just west of the U.S. 30 & 41. Brian Grimmer — one of Butch and Joan’s four adult children — has chosen to stay in the family business.”

“’During the 1870s, Peter Michael Grimmer left the Alsace-Lorraine region at the age of 22; he eventually ended up in Illinois,’ Grimmer began. ‘My dad came back from World War II and hired in at U.S. Steel. He worked there for a very short period of time. He said, ‘Well, I survived the war, why would I want to spend the rest of my life in the mill or possibly get killed in the mill?’ So, he started his little business in the same location we’re at right now. He purchased 2.8 acres for $700. I’m sure he was up many nights trying to figure out how he was ever going to pay it off.’ For less than a year, it started out as Grimmer-Bonney Auto. Mr. Bonney was a bomber pilot during World War II. After the war, with the rebuilding of Germany, they were looking for American pilots who could deliver the supplies. Bonney decided that’s what he would do.”

“I was taking car parts apart at this station when I was 5. When I was 6 or 7, I came home from school and Dad said we had to change the price of gasoline. I asked him, ‘To what?’ He said, ‘To 30.9 (cents per gallon).’”

“I knew my dad was an intelligent person, but at that moment, I was thinking he was crazy. I didn’t believe there would ever be a day when someone would come to Grimmer’s and pay 30 cents for a gallon of fuel.”

Changes at Grimmer’s through the years? “A lot has gone on over the years. In this photo, you can see what our building looked like in the ‘50s. That’s Dad next to what I believe is a ‘56 Chevy. Those are our Phillip’s 66 gas pumps. We were a distributor of Frank Phillip’s Petroleum Co. products for at least 40 years.”

“We focus in the areas of exhaust, tires, brakes, starters, alternators — repairs such as that. We typically like to get the customer in and out in half a day or less."

“We also have the Pennzoil 10-minute quick lube. In our heyday, we’ve had as many as 400 cars per week come through here. We pride ourselves knowing that we’ve changed the oil in more than a half-million cars in 67 years."

Is Grimmer’s one of the oldest businesses in the Dyer, Schererville and St. John area? “Probably second-oldest. Teibel’s Restaurant was here at least 10 years before us. We are very close with the Teibel family.”

All three generations of Grimmers have been known to work their share of 20-hour days in the last 67 years.

And any longtime customer will attest that when a Grimmer lifts up the hood of a car, there’s a ton of experience staring at that starter.