Iconic gas station closes in Arlington Heights

  • Owner Craig Grandt closed Grandt's Shell service station in Arlington Heights for the final time on New Year's Eve.

      Owner Craig Grandt closed Grandt's Shell service station in Arlington Heights for the final time on New Year's Eve. Mark Welsh | Staff Photographer

  • Friends and family wished Craig Grandt well with a car parade through his gas station Thursday evening in Arlington Heights.

      Friends and family wished Craig Grandt well with a car parade through his gas station Thursday evening in Arlington Heights. Mark Welsh | Staff Photographer

 
 
Updated 12/31/2020 8:59 PM

6 p.m. Thursday marked the end of an era in Arlington Heights, as Grandt's Shell service station closed its doors.

Longtime customers, family, friends and Grandt's four daughters bid a fond farewell with a car parade Thursday at the station, 406 E. Northwest Hwy.

 

"It's just time to go," owner Craig Grandt said. "We still have a lot of clients. I didn't want to go out struggling; we can go out high."

The Arlington Heights Park District in August struck a deal to purchase the service station -- a property it has sought for decades as part of a vision to expand Recreation Park.

The deal includes the service station's iconic rooftop rocket.

"It's our trademark," said Grandt, whose father, Roger, built it out of two 30-gallon oil drums in the 1960s as a tribute to the U.S.-Soviet space race and Shell's premium gasoline, which was nicknamed "rocket fuel."

Founded by Virgil Horath, the station dates back to 1928. Roger Grandt, who worked as a mechanic for Horath, bought the station in 1960. Craig Grandt took over around 2001, and his father died in 2011 at age 85.

• Daily Herald staff writers Christopher Placek and Burt Constable contributed to this report.

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