©2006 Stevenson Transfer Inc. All rights reserved.
Stevenson Transfer, Inc. was founded in 1908, when Warren Charles (Todd) Stevenson left his father's house moving business to start his own business. He hitched his team to a used wagon that he purchased and began doing local deliveries of
railroad freight.
Local deliveries grew into household moving. In 1917, Todd purchased his first truck. It was smaller than today's full size pickup. As the business grew the trucks became larger and the service area grew as well.
Todd became a delivery contractor for the E I DuPont company in 1929. He hauled explosives from the plant in Seneca, IL to the coalmines and construction jobs in the area.
Herb Stevenson joined his father in the business in 1932 upon his graduation from High School. It was the heart of the Depression and the father-son team fought the depression by adding services and increasing the area that they served.
Transportation of explosive product became a statewide service and longer distances on household moves more common.
The first warehouse was constructed in 1951. At that time, Todd passed the management of the company to his son. Herb formed and alliance with Mayflower and took his moving business from a statewide operation to offering nation-wide capabilities.
In 1965 Bill graduated from college and joined his father in the business. This was another winning father-son team. They secured a contact with the Western Electric Company to deliver Telecommunication equipment. They expanded the market area for household moving. They added commercial storage to their menu and found it necessary to lease additional warehouse space to meet the demand.
In 1973 they built a new warehouse on Marquette Street in Ottawa. Their plan allowed for 10 years of growth. It was full in two weeks. They began storing plastic for the Borg-Warner Corp. in 1977. AT&T was added to the customer base about that time.
Herb passed away in 1983. Bill continued to hold the growing business together with the help of a very loyal staff.
A new warehouse was constructed in 1985 on Stevenson Road in Ottawa. The road was named for Herb in honor of his sixteen years of service on the city council of Ottawa. Again, multi-year growth was projected for this facility, but additions were needed in 1991 and 1993.
Mike Stevenson, the fourth generation, joined the firm in 1995 after his college graduation. This is the third great father-son combination in a row. Mike took over the household goods operation and turned it into a perennial prize winning agency. A formal training program has helped to raise the level of performance of all of the Stevenson employees. Mike is also a leader in the Illinois Movers and Warehouseman's Association and has served on the board of that organization for several years.
The Stevenson group provides storage and delivery service to local industries who need time-critical supplies where they can be ordered and delivered with lead times measured in minutes rather than days.
The Stevenson family has been providing services to the area for 97 years and four generations.
