A History of Davis Cartage Co.
The Early Years - 1941 through 1970
By: William John Hartle
For two years after the selling of the cement equipment the company remained static. Then Maurice R. Davis decided to build a warehouse on Findley Street in Saginaw, Michigan. He felt the company should continue to grow but in a different area than trucking. Warehousing had low overhead and the labor needed to run them was low. Thus in 1964 Davis Warehousing, a subsidiary of Davis Cartage Company was established with a forty thousand square foot, humidity controlled heated warehouse. The heating and humidity control was felt to be needed for the storage of sugar and sugar products.
Along with the building of a new warehouse in 1964 came the purchase of another warehouse. This was the M and M Warehouse at 1100 S. Water Street in Saginaw, Michigan with complete rail and dock facilities for industrial storage. By 1965 Davis Cartage Company was ready to add another warehouse on Findley Street property near the sugar warehouse. This was a sixteen thousand square foot warehouse for steel. This steel warehouse had a automated crane and rail facilities to help with loading and unloading of steel products and the placing of these products in the warehouse.
In 1965 another warehouse was purchased in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan particularly for the storage of sugar. This purchase was not as productive and advantageous a purchase as it at first seemed and it was sold in 1967. In that same year a new steel warehouse was built with sixteen thousand square feet of storage space.
The monetary growth of the company had slowed down by this time and had leveled off to about $550,000.00. It must be remembered that with the fantastic reduction of size by 1961 and the addition of warehousing properties it was a much more profitable operation than it had been with a larger volume.
With the building of the warehouses on Findley Street and the greater shift and emphasis on the company in this area it was decided to move the company's trucking facilities and offices to 1957 Findley Street in Saginaw, Michigan. This consolidated the company and made coordination between the trucking and warehousing areas much easier.
By 1970 the Davis Cartage Company had been in trucking for almost 30 years. A great deal of its business is presently done with General Motors Corporation, Michigan Sugar Company, Monitor Sugar Company, Farm Bureau Services, Grace Chemical and Commodity Carriers.
We have now entered a period of business slowdown which when dealing with companies like General Motors Corporation could have a great effect upon the amount of business done by Davis Cartage Company. However having progressed as far as it has in the competitive trucking business under the guidance of Maurice R. Davis one necessarily feels that this business downturn will be weathered by the Davis Cartage Company and in the coming years Davis Cartage Company will still be one of the major trucking companies still in business.
