Marshall’s Garage, located in Elkins, is excited to celebrate our 75th anniversary this year. We want to say thank you to all of our valued customers who have helped us reach this milestone. We invite you to continue your walk through history with us. Along those lines, here is some background on how we started:

The business was started in 1947 by my grandfather, Leroy (Roy) Marshall, and his wife Francis. “Franny,” as she was called, was a nurse at New London Hospital for many years, and people remember her for delivering many babies along with Bill Clough in the old hospital and the “new hospital.” 

“Roy” previously worked for the telephone company in New London and Littles Garage, which was a Chevrolet car dealership in New London. He was a car salesman and a mechanic at Littles. 

In 1947 he built and opened his own repair shop at his residence in Elkins. The story is that he hand shoveled the ground for where the foundation was poured. At some point early on, gas pumps were installed, and they sold gas and did repairs.

His son Ralph worked at the garage for 15 or so years after getting out of the Air Force in about 1957. In 1967, a five-bay garage was added on the property to accommodate the growing business. 

In 1978, grandson David Marshall started working there full time after completing technical school in Manchester. That’s me … although I worked there as a kid pumping gas and learning car repair skills starting at age 12 … that would have been about 1970. 

When I look at 12-year-olds today, I can’t even imagine them being able to do the stuff we did when we were that age, but that’s another story.

David’s wife Carla has worked as a service advisor and bookkeeper at different times as the need required. Somewhere in the 2000s … fourth-generationers and great-granddaughters of Roy and Franny, Kate and Devon have done various jobs at the shop from being lowly lemonade stand entrepreneurs, shop cleaners, and finally progressing to bookkeeper. 

Currently, great-granddaughter Devon is the general manager. Fifth-generationer is Casey Piquette … great-great-granddaughter of Roy. She does some radio advertising for the shop.

The business has grown over the years, from a one-man shop to nine people currently, but our primary goal has always been to provide great customer service, great car repairs, and great advice. We couldn’t have done it without our loyal customers!

A customer appreciation event is being planned for sometime this summer. Stay tuned for more information.