From left, Garett Lemmon, Kelly Van Tassel, Martha Kennedy and Frank Kennedy of Koeppen Alignment Service have been working to clear out the business before it closes at the end of the month.

Come July, for the first time in nearly 90 years, Koeppen Alignment Service won't be open for business.

Frank and Martha Kennedy, who took over the business from Frank's parents, Earl and Joyce Kennedy, said June 30 will be the last day the garage will be open.

Frank's parents bought the business from founder Bob Koeppen.

A new owner takes over in July and plans to run a garage and alignment service.

Frank Kennedy said, “The last day we ran a full schedule was the Friday before Memorial Day.”

Since then, he has been sorting through more than 70 years of accumulated tools and equipment he is removing from the building in anticipation of the new owner.“I found stuff I hadn't seen in years,” he said. “I took a toolbox out of the backroom. There were tools in there that I never used.”Frank Kennedy said Koeppen started his business in 1932 at a site below the parking lot of the Lafayette Building in downtown Butler.

In 1950, Koeppen had his distinctive black-and-white tile garage built at 301 S. Chestnut St.“He designed and had it built the way he wanted. It's a glazed tile building,” Kennedy said.“He designed the building, and the only thing that changed was the garage doors and having a peaked roof put in,” said Kennedy. “Everything else is original.”Koeppen continued doing tire balancing, frame and axle straightening and suspension work until 1966, when he sold the business to Frank Kennedy's parents, Earl and Joyce Kennedy.Earl Kennedy starting working for Koeppen right after he got out of the service after World War II.

Frank Kennedy has been working the business since he was 12 years old, starting with assisting Koeppen in changing tires.“I grew up with the business,” he said. “They claim when I was 3, I would sit on a wooden box and clean tools with gasoline.”“He had to have seen a glimmer of talent in me,” said Frank Kennedy. He added Koeppen's children didn't want to take over the business, and that's why it was sold to the Kennedys.He in turn bought Koeppen Alignment from his parents in 1984, and for the past 37 years he and his staff of five — with an occasional assist from his wife of 50 years — have straightened and aligned a parade of vehicles.“I didn't work in the office, I worked with the guys,” said Martha Kennedy about her frequent stints filling tires and helping in the alignment bays.They raised three children, two boys and a girl.“The boys helped out when they were younger,” she said, but none of the children had any interest in taking over the business.Her husband said he wasn't looking to sell the business.

“A man made an offer to buy the building. I hadn't advertised it or anything,” said Kennedy, 71. “I am almost old enough to retire, and it was an offer I can live with. It came right out of the sky.”The new business won't keep the Koeppen name. The Kennedys have ownership of that. Also leaving will be longtime office manager Kelly Van Tassel, who has worked there 40 years. But employee Garrett Lemmon will stay on under the new ownership.Kennedy said he has enjoyed his long career at the alignment shop.He said cars are better and safer than they were when he started, but now vehicles are becoming over engineered.“Some days are more fun than others, but I've been able to do this my whole life,” he said. “I don't know if everyone is fortunate enough to enjoy life and enjoy doing what they want to do, but I have.”

Model Ts were lined up outside Koeppen Alignment Service on Memorial Day. The distinctive black-and-white-tile building was built to founder Bob Koeppen's specifications in 1950.

Bob Koeppen started his alignment and frame straightening business in 1932.

Koeppen Alignment Service, on S. Chestnut Street, will close at the end of June.

Earl and Joyce Kennedy bought the business from Bob Koeppen and later sold it to their son, Frank.