Manley Tire Oil History

In the 1940s, Sam Bly started a service station called Sam's. For the next thirty years this station was a landmark in this area, selling beer, televisions, and gas. Since television was new (and expensive) at the time, people would come from all over to watch TV at Sam's. Sam sold his business in the 70s, but wound up reacquiring it when the then current owners were unable to make payments.

Jim and Trudy Vanderburg purchased the station in 1979. Because it had not been open for the last few years, the business didn't have a customer base. To make ends meet, Jim worked full time at the Horner Box Company for 4 months until the business picked up.

In 1987 the station's business office caught on fire. Our customers who did business with us during that time will remember us selling them tires from inside one of our service bays.

In 1994, we had another fire. This time we know what started it: a Christmas candle. The fire burned out much of the house attached to the business, but did not damage the business itself.

In 2003, Jim and Trudy divorced. Although under "new" management, Trudy and her two sons, Paul and Joel, have held Manley Tire up to the standards that had been set since we opened. Trudy later married John Deutsch, who is retired.

In 2006, we built a huge new building. This building is home to our car and pickup service work, including tires, mechanic, and alignment work. The previous home to all of this is now our service bay for commerical vehicles.

In 2009, a furnace heating one of the service bays broke and started a fire. The building was gutted and the next service bays suffered massive smoke damage. But once again, the fire did not stop us from opening the next day and helping our customers. We espeically want to thank: Tom Specht, who noticed the smoke leaking out of the building door and stopped to alert us; the many fire departments who came and kept the fire from spreading to other structures; and most importantly God, for keeping everyone safe and causing everything to go so smoothly.

Besides the rebuilding from the fires, we've done a lot of construction around our place—adding buildings, combining buildings, tearing them down, and moving them around. The faces you see at Manley Tire also sometimes change as our employees are hired and then go on to other jobs, but our service remains the same.