The station continued to sell Standard Oil products for its first several years but by 1940 it had switched to Phillips 66 brands.

At least nine other stations besides O'Donnell's dotted this part of Route 66 through Odell, the competition drove the addition of the bays by the 1940s.

It was that year that the Village of Odell purchased the station for the express purpose of historic restoration.

The Route 66 Association of Illinois took interest in the project and nominated the property for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, a status it was granted on November 9.

A bypass was constructed around Odell in 1946, traffic was directed around the strip that held the gas stations and businesses started to disappear.