In 1952, much of Riverside Avenue in Fort Collins was a dirt road; the Dreher pickle plant was in full swing, three in five households had cars and city limits stopped on the south side of Old Town. The city's population was just more than 34,000 and a new father was about to open an auto repair shop on the outskirts of town.

Charles "Chuck" Houska, a former B-17 mechanic in World War II, opened Houska Automotive, 899 Riverside Ave., servicing vehicles for farmers, ranchers and anyone else who needed a hand, often getting paid in pickles, chickens, or whatever his customers had to trade.

"All of the (pickle plant workers) were customers, and a lot couldn't pay their bills, so my dad helped them out," said Chuck's son, Dennis. It was the beginning of a legacy of philanthropy that has continued to this day.

At the time, Houska has just two service bays and Chuck was the lone mechanic for a time until he got so busy he hired a second pair of hands.

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That was 70 years ago. Today, Chuck Houska's legacy lives on through his son, Dennis, who took over Houska Automotive in 1974, while his dad continued working almost until the day he died in 1985. By the time Dennis took over, the business had eight bays and eight mechanics. Today it includes the original site, an oil and tire building and fleet services building, all on the same campus. Houska also has about 50 employees.

Dennis has now fully retired, handing the reins to his son, John, "LJ" Houska, the third generation to carry on the Houska tradition. Dennis' wife, Noreen, still keeps the books with no plans to retire and, LJ's wife, Jen, works part-time. She calls herself the "hodgepodge girl," picking up whatever needs to be done while their daughter is in school.

Like their dad, who started sweeping floors at the shop when he was 9, LJ and his brother and sister, Nate and Kate, grew up with the smell of oil and grease. LJ was the only one who had an interest in making it his livelihood.

"I remember when I was real little getting picked up from preschool by my grandpa in his tow truck," LJ said. "I thought it was so cool. I was intrigued by the shop."

He began working there while in high school and was quickly making repairs "under the hood." By age 20, he was a regular presence at the shop.

That's when he picked up his nickname. To help differentiate among three other Johns working there, they started calling him Little John, which was eventually shortened to LJ.

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When LJ came on in 2012, Houska started exploring tire sales, which up until that point was a small portion of the business due to space constraints.

In 2013 it opened Houska Tire and Oil, specializing in tire sales and service, oil service and emission tests. "It's a nice offering," LJ said. You can get quick stuff done while you wait. "People hate to wait too long," he said.

In 2015 Houska bought the site just west of Riverside Plaza and opened the fleet shop in 2017. "We were working on bigger stuff, but there was no space," LJ said.

That's where expansion will likely stop.

"There's not too much more room," Dennis said. "I don't think we would ever move from here."

Like many industries, auto service has seen tectonic shifts, from a combustion engine that many people could repair on their own to computerized engines with electronic ignitions and fuel injection to assisted driving and electric vehicles. Technicians — they're not called mechanics any more — have changed with the times.

What a mechanic used to be able to fix with a few tools now takes "$100,000 in tools," Dennis said. Few people can or want to fix their own cars now, but cars last a lot longer without needing repair.

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Over the years, Houska Automotive has fixed nearly everything on wheels with an engine, from old relics to "very creative RVs" to the human cannonball — yes, that circus act that shot people out of a cannon.

The truck carrying the cannon was traveling through Fort Collinswhen it needed repairs and ended up at Houska. Once fixed, it was presumably on its way so the show could go on.

"There's always something unusual ... no two days are the same," Dennis said.

The spirit of giving

Over the years, the spirit of giving that started with Chuck Houska has continued through his children and grandchildren. The Houska name is now associated with its philanthropy as much as its service.

"I think it came from my dad," Dennis said, referring again to his work helping farmers, ranchers and laborers in the early days.

Whether it was the Houska Houska charity run to raise awareness and funds for the Poudre Valley Hospital Cancer Center or Bone Marrow Donor Program, classes to teach simple car repairs to women, events to raise money for a single mom with a child with disabilities who needed a car or a specialized vehicle for a high school teen paralyzed in a hit and run, Houska has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for causes in which its owners believe. Some happen behind the scenes and outside of the public's purview.

The Houska Houska, which ran for 22 years, raised more than $250,000 in its final decade alone. The shop recently raised more than $10,000 for the UCHealth Family Medicine Center food pantry through its 70th anniversary garage band bash.

"We raise money by having a good time and doing good at the same time," Dennis said.

Houska's philanthropy doesn't stop with a check. In 1978, Dennis became a blood donor when his mother was diagnosed with cancer. She and Dennis' father both died from the disease.

A longtime registered bone marrow donor, Dennis donated bone marrow to Andrew Christensen, an 8-year-old patient in California who became an extended member of the Houska family.

“Throughout its long history of serving Northern Colorado, Houska Automotive has been a supporter of the health of our community," said Kevin Unger, president and CEO of UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital and Medical Center of the Rockies.

"The generosity of the Houskas — both as a local business and as a family — powerfully demonstrates the importance of the connection among caring people, strong businesses and healthy communities," he said. "We are deeply grateful for their decades of support of UCHealth and the UCHealth Northern Colorado Foundation.”

The family that works together stays together

While there are challenges to being a family-owned business, Dennis calls it a privilege to have been able to pass his family legacy to the next generation.

"It's so unusual to be able to do this, but it's a real honor to have the family and all get along. We work together and play together afterward. It's an honor to have that legacy carried forward. We don't bring it home," he said. "If you bring all work problems home. it could drive you nuts and affect your relationships."

When asked the lessons they each learned from their respective fathers, Dennis and LJ said it's honesty and ethics.

"Treat everyone with respect ... that was his big deal," Dennis said of his father.

"The same thing got passed down to me," LJ said. "Do the right thing."

As Houska Automotive moves into its seventh decade of business, Dennis hopes its legacy will continue well into the future, "taking care of customers and building lifelong relationships. I'm sure it will happen. The groundwork has been set. I hope we're still big into the community," too, Dennis said. "We love Fort Collins and Northern Colorado and we support our neighbors as much as we can. I hope that is where we are going."

What the future holds

There have been a lot of changes at Houska and Fort Collins in the past seven decades, and many more to come.

Electric vehicles are just a stepping stone to future sources of fuel, including hydrogen, but what new sources might be out there in the next 70 years remains to be seen.

"We want to be on the forefront of technology," LJ said. "I would love to see the campus rolling. Whatever vehicles are out there, we want to get our hands under the hood."

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Houska Automotive still rolling after 70 years in Fort Collins