Smith's Transfer Corp.

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Smith Transfer Corp. operated freight terminals in a long list of communities,
including this Huntington area terminal in Kenova, where in 1968
the company spent $100,000 to extend its loading docks
 and construct a new truck check-out building.

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Founded in 1930 in Staunton, Virginia, Smith’s Transfer Corp.
grew to become the nation’s eighth-largest trucking company.
 For decades you could see their signature “ST” logo
on their silver trailers traveling throughout the
East Coast, Southeast and Midwest.

The company operated freight terminals in a long list of communities,
including a Huntington area terminal in Kenova, where in 1968
it spent $100,000 to extend its loading docks and
 construct a new truck check-out building.

Smith’s carved its niche in the highly competitive trucking industry
 by specializing in less-than-carload shipments, a small but
 profitable line of business that many truck lines ignored.
The company also grew by acquiring a number of
 smaller truck lines. When it took over Charleston-
based Bell Lines, Smith’s was able to extend its
service to Northern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania
and Michigan while substantially increasing
 its service in West Virginia.

Ultimately, Smith’s Transfer became a seller, rather than a buyer.
In 1979, ARA Services Inc. of Philadelphia acquired Smith’s
 in an exchange of stock worth $84 million. A conglomerate
with annual sales of more than $2 billion, ARA then
operated a major food service business, was a
distributor of  books and magazines and ran
 nursing homes, uniform rental services
 and school bus systems.

The largest stockholder in Smith’s was R.R. (Jake) Smith,
whose brothers founded the company by hauling cattle
 to market for farmers in the Shenandoah Valley.
 He and his wife, Doris, founded the R.R. Smith
 Center for History and Art in Staunton.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Sep. 6, 2022..

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