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Towne History

Eugene Towne founded Towne Air Freight, in South Bend in 1963 with one employee and one van. Gary “Duke” Downey then purchased the company in August 1982. At that time, South Bend was the only location with 18 employees, two tractors and nine straight trucks. The core business was local pickup and delivery service in South Bend, as well as linehaul service between South Bend and Chicago’s O’Hare Airport for the freight community.

Between 1983 and 1994, Towne Air Freight opened locations in Fort Wayne, Chicago, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Evansville, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati; and a new terminal facility was built in South Bend. Since 1994, Towne has expanded to Lexington, Louisville, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Dayton, Toledo, Philadelphia, New York City, Atlanta and Miami, integrating air freight service throughout the Midwest, East Coast and Southeast. In addition, satellite service locations were added in Buffalo, NY; Newark, NJ; Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, NC; Greensboro, NC; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Greenville, SC; Rochester, NY; Syracuse, NY; and Cadillac, MI.

In 1984, Towne began offering less-than-truckload (LTL) service, providing commercial shippers with next-day service within the state of Indiana. This service was later expanded to include Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky.

In 1995, Towne Air Freight became a subsidiary of Towne Holdings, Inc., a privately held corporation and has since grown into a full-service trucking provider offering time-sensitive, less-than-truckload shipments for both air freight and commercial companies.

Towne became a coast-to-coast company in 2005 with the opening of a facility in Los Angeles, CA that quickly grew into service along the complete I-5 corridor with terminals in Seattle and Spokane, WA; Portland, OR, San Francisco and San Diego, CA.

In 2007, Towne strengthened presence on the East Coast with service to Boston, MA, Hartford, CT and a hub facility in Newark, NJ. The acquisition of Complete Transport in the Missouri Valley extended core Midwest market boundaries to the south and west.

Towne’s footprint expanded once again in 2008 with the acquisition of Synergy Cargo Logistics­—a Southwest customer favorite. Newly gained operations in Phoenix, Nogales and Tucson, AZ; Calexico, CA and El Paso, TX provide specialized tradeshow services to Las Vegas, NV and border and customs assistance into Mexico.

In the summer of 2009, Towne made a big move into a big state with the acquisition of Texas Land and Air. A few months later, Towne expanded the upper Midwest portion of the network by bringing the Freightmasters operation aboard.

Still in growth mode, Towne acquired HBI Freight on the East coast in late 2010, further strengthening the nationwide network to include three new points and an expansive pickup and delivery area in the mid-Atlantic region.

Present management of Towne Holdings includes Tom Downey, President and Chief Executive Officer; Paul Martins, Sr. Vice President of Sales and Marketing and President of TNS; Joe Dooley, Chief Profitability Officer; and Jerry Scott, Senior Vice President of HR and Corporate Administration.

All in all, there are two wholly-owned subsidiaries under the Towne Holdings name. In 2003, Towne Holdings officially incorporated Towne Network Solutions as a provider of logistics and managed ground transportation solutions for international airline and forwarder customers. return to top