ATS History

1955
Anderson Trucking Service’s (ATS) history began during a time when the trucking industry was heavily regulated. At the time, Cold Spring Granite (now known as Coldspring) owned a private fleet. They could haul outbound stone and inbound materials used only to manufacture granite products. Their business kept growing to the point where they had more outbound goods than inbound materials, leaving them stranded with no freight to get them back home. That’s when they reached out to ATS founder Harold Anderson to manage their overflow business. ATS was then incorporated.
1956
After some time successfully hauling Coldspring’s outbound materials, Harold found another solution to a common problem. There were roughly 15-20 monument manufacturers in the St. Cloud area who were each shipping their products separately. He proposed a solution that instead of using several different providers, these manufacturers should put their freight on the same trailer that would make multiple stops. This is an early example of less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping.
1958
Business expanded after ATS obtained our machinery and equipment authority. We also signed four Independent Contractor Drivers, adding to the fleet that began with two Drivers.
1959
ATS established our first out-of-state terminal in Lansing, Illinois.