July 19, 2022—After 62 years of serving its community, Bee Line Service closed its doors this year.
According to Mount Vernon News, the family-owned auto repair shop was originally opened by James Grubaugh and Ronald "Red" Carpenter. Following Carpenter's passing, James Grubaugh ran the shop with his son Mike Grubaugh. The two were also joined by Doug Grunbaugh, Mike's brother and son of James. James passed away in 2020.
The shop specialized in brakes, undercarriage repair, and alignments. The team served generations of patrons in the Mount Vernon, Ohio, area.
The brothers have cited health concerns as a compounding reason for the shop's closure.
"I'm 72, and my brother is 69," Mike Grubaugh said in the article. "For the most part, people don't realize how hard the work is. It's demanding. All that stuff is heavy. When you are 20, 30, 40 years old, that doesn't matter. But it gets to be much harder as you get older."
The Knox County Land Bank has purchased the Bee Line property in order to establish a new Knox Area Transit bus hub.
