Archie Bentz

ARCHIE BENTZ, JR.

Archie was raised in Batavia, Illinois. His father, Archie Bentz Sr., having worked at Clark's Pure Oil since 1945, ventured into business with his brother, Bernard, as Bentz Bros. Pure Oil in Batavia. Moving on to do business as Standard Oil dealers, their location in Batavia became the nucleus for their rapid expansion and Bentz Bros. became the largest Standard Oil dealer in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Having worked in every aspect of his father's business, Archie Jr. eventually went to college at Northern Illinois University and pursued a degree in Marketing. His college career was interrupted by a draft notice and Archie was sent to Vietnam. In 1970, he was wounded in combat, honorably discharged and upon returning home he attended Waubonsee Community College and Western Illinois University where he met his wife of almost 50 years.

In 1974, they purchased their first home in St. Charles and in 1977 Archie founded his own business, Bentz Texaco, a full-service gas station with 3 service-bays. With a solid reputation the business grew to the point where a second repair facility was necessary and in 1980, he opened Archie's Arcada Automotive behind the Arcada theater. In 1986, Texaco Oil sold 81 Chicago area properties to Mobil Oil and the name changed to Bentz Mobil. After prolonged pressure from Mobil in it's effort to eliminate independent dealers and unsuccessful efforts on the part of Bentz to purchase the property, Archie left the business in 1990.

in 1991 the next business venture was Archie's Sandwiches and Spirits in Oregon, Illinois.After successfully building that business, he sold in 1995. Having built his own new home, Archie became trained as a Millwork Specialist and worked in that field until his retirement in 2007.

In 2013, Archie and Linda retired to Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. It was here that Archie started a biography of his father's business ventures only to realize that he, himself, was one of the last of the era full-service gas station dealers. The combined tenure of his family spanned from 1945 to 1999. This served as the impetus to capture the history before it disappeared.