Eugene Towne founded Towne Air Freight, in South Bend in 1963 with one employee and one van. Gary "Duke" Downey then purchased the company in August 1982. At that time, South Bend was the only location with 18 employees, two tractors and nine straight trucks. The core business was local pickup and delivery service in South Bend, as well as linehaul service between South Bend and Chicago's O'Hare Airport for the freight community. Between 1983 and 1994, Towne Air Freight opened locations in Fort Wayne, Chicago, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Evansville, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati; and a new terminal facility was built in South Bend. Since 1994, Towne has expanded to Lexington, Louisville, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Dayton, Toledo, Philadelphia, New York City, Atlanta and Miami, integrating air freight service throughout the Midwest, East Coast and Southeast. In addition, satellite service locations were added in Buffalo, NY; Newark, NJ; Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, NC; Greensboro, NC; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Greenville, SC; Rochester, NY; Syracuse, NY; and Cadillac, MI.