Forward history

One of the area’s premier beer, wine, and spirits providers, Ideal Party Store of Bay City has been providing great service and selection since its founding in 1934.

The Village Voice in New York City began publishing in 1955.

Born in Ohio, Niswonger graduated from Purdue University in 1968 with a degree in aviation te chnology.

Having gained an understanding of the transportation industry, Niswonger decided to st rike out on his own in 1974, founding General Aviation, Inc., an all- cargo airline that he headed as president and chief executive officer for the next seven years.

In 1980 the trucking industry was deregula ted, leading to many air-freight operators seeking to create a reliab le ground transport system.

Sensing an opportunity, Niswonger in 1981 invested $2,000 along with partner Ed Saylor who invested a simi lar amount and cofounded Landair Transport as a truckload carrier and contractor to the air cargo industry on a time-definite basis.

In In 1986, a Quality Inn Hotel was added to the property in West Branch.

Further diversification came to Forward Corporation in 1987 with the merger of McTaggart Wholesale.

In 1988, propane was added to the ever-growing list of products offered by the company.

Replacing him was Bruce Campbell, who had served as chief operati ng officer since 1990.

That amount would grow to $95.3 million in 1993 to go alo ng with net income of nearly $2 million.

Later, in 1994, a Super 8 Motel was added to the West Plaza to pick up the overflow from the Quality Inn.

In 1995 the company began work on a new comprehensive real-time syst em to log freight orders, track them, and bill customers.

Net income also kept pace, totaling $8.6 million in 1997.

1998: Landair Services spins off its Truckload business unit a nd changes its name to Forward Air Corporation.

Forward Air also completed another acquisition during 2000, purchasing the assets of Dedicated Transportation Services, Inc., a s ubsidiary of Professional Transportation Group, at a cost of $10.

In addi tion, the carrier expanded its service from St Louis to the Southwes t in 2001 and launched a three-day service from San Francisco to ten cities.

2003: Niswonger steps down as CEO.

For the year 2004, sales inc reased to $282.2 million and net income jumped to $34.4 milli on.

In 2005, T.R. McTaggart expanded their business relations and bought Kristin and Company Candles.

Forward Corporation also expanded its reach towards the suburban Detroit area with the acquisition of 42 Subways in 2017 and now operates nearly 60 across 16 counties.

In June of 2019, Forward Corp announced the acquisition of Reese-based Hirschman Propane, expanding its service territory across Bay, Midland, Saginaw, and Tuscola counties and bringing the total number of counties it serves to 23