As soon as there were automobiles and tractors, there had to be mechanics to fix them, and for the last 89 years, Cedar Hill Garage has been fulfilling that need.
The garage, housed in a white concrete block shop at the intersection of Hwy. BB and Cedar Hill Road, was the second mechanics shop in town. Edwin Reinemer opened the first mechanic’s shop in 1920 just down the street, next to the old Buxton’s store, but apparently that garage wasn't around for long.
The second one, the Cedar Hill Garage, 7111 Hwy. BB, opened only half a block away in 1928. Charles Boemler built the shop and by 1934, when a garage in Byrnesville closed, it was the only mechanic’s shop for a good long way, and business in Cedar Hill picked up considerably, according to Crean in his book, “Photographs, Document and History of Byrnesville, Cedar Hill, Dittmer, Local and Scheve.”
“When the Byrnesville garage ceased operations, the Cedar Hill garage was the only garage to serve the needs of these five towns,” Crean wrote.
Charles Boemler’s nephew, Albert Boemler, born in 1898, was the first man to run the garage. Adolph Bauer, born in 1906, was the second.
Adolph hired his brother-in-law, Joe Weber, to help him, and in the 1940s, they added an Allis Chalmers tractor dealership to the business, Crean wrote.
The late Curmel “Red” James purchased the business from Bauer in the early 1960s and worked on automobiles and farm equipment there, said his son, Curmel Ronald (Ronnie) James.
“We worked on cars, tractors, lawn mowers, combines, hay tools; we did it all, back in the day,” he said.
Ronnie James, 60, began working at the shop part time in 1973, and when he graduated from high school in 1975, he joined the business full time. He lives next door to the shop and has lived in Cedar Hill his whole life.
“I walk to work everyday,” James said.
He said one of the best parts of working all these years in a small town is the people.
“It used to be we knew everyone,” James said. “Now percentage wise, we hardly know anyone. We used to be the only James in the phone book, now it’s packed with Jameses.”
The little shop fared well during the energy crisis in the 1970s because the Jameses had a contract to provide gasoline to Union Electric. Not long after that, though, they got rid of the gasoline pumps and focused on repairs, James said.
Today, Cedar Hill Garage is a Simplicity lawn tractor dealership, where James does simple mechanic work on vehicles, tractors and equipment large and small, he said.
His father, “Red,” who was well known in the community, passed away in 2008. James said working with him was the very best thing about the family business.
“I had the pleasure of working beside my father every day,” he said. “Oh, we butted heads once in awhile, because there is always more than one way to do things, but it wasn’t very often. He was a great teacher.”
James said he has no plans to do anything else.
“I’m going to keep working. I’ll be here until who knows when,” he said.
