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A couple of mornings a week, Mike Arbizzani walks into the Farmers Insurance office on North Second Street in St. Charles with his dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Millie.

He’s retired, so he’s not required to be there. He just likes catching up with his longtime clients.

The name on the door now belongs to Rob Olech, a St. Charles native who took over the agency in 2023 and was happy to carry on Mike’s legacy. Those types of connections tend to result from spending more than five decades in one community.

But the building itself — and the business inside — has a story that goes back even further.

Long before it was home to an insurance agency, the building belonged to Colonial Dairies, the business Simon Anderson started in St. Charles in 1901.

Anderson bought the property in 1918, years after it had been moved from the corner of West Main and Second streets. In those early days, the Andersons milked their own cows and delivered the milk by horse-drawn wagon. 

There was no mechanical refrigeration, so each winter crews cut ice from the Fox River and packed it in sawdust to keep the milk cold through summer. The last ice harvest happened in 1928, after which mechanical means were used.

In 1945, Colonial sold its milk routes to Riverview Dairy and shifted its focus to ice cream. That decision ultimately led to the Colonial shops generations of locals grew up with, and the eastside Colonial Café still serves scoops today.

Back to Mike Arbizzani, the Marmion Academy grad who started with Farmers in 1969 and worked out of an office on Prairie Street in Aurora with three other agents.

As a trusted local professional, he became a go-to resource for new business owners. Newspaper clippings from the late 80s and 90s show him leading the insurance portion of small business workshops for chambers of commerce and the SCORE volunteer business organization. 

Through the decades, one thing hasn’t changed: his phone number. The 630-584-9313 number listed in Mike’s 1974 newspaper ads is the same number clients use to call Olech Farmers Insurance today.

“I was an agent for many years because I truly enjoyed it and liked helping people and getting to know them personally,” Arbizzani said.

When Mike was ready to step back, the agency went to someone who knew the ins and outs of the Tri-Cities area.

Rob Olech grew up in St. Charles, and like Arbizzani, graduated from Marmion Academy. After getting a degree from Northern Illinois University, he’s been a Farmers agent for almost 20 years. He built his own agency from scratch in South Elgin in 2009, then took over the Arbizzani agency in June 2023.

Today the agency handles auto, home, renters, condo, life, business, and Medicare coverage, along with policies for boats, RVs, motorcycles, and rental properties.

But what makes this agency different is the same thing that keeps clients stopping by to see Mike: a small, family-oriented hometown team that knows your name, knows the area, and truly cares about its clients. 

“I am happy to be serving the community I was born and raised in,” Olech said. “I also stayed and raised my family here.”

Robert Olech Insurance Agency is at 121 N. Second St., Suite F, in downtown St. Charles, between Breadsmith and the St. Charles Arts Council. Call 630-584-9313 or visit their website to get a quote. 

If you time your visit right, Mike might be there too.

Robert Olech Insurance Agency is a sponsor of Tri-Cities Central. This is sponsored content.

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