1958: Adistra Marketing Support Services, a family-owned fulfillment-service company, is founded in the Detroit area. Ford Motor Co. is a major client.
1965: General Motors signs on.
1990: Minnetonka-based Carlson Companies buys Adistra and creates a fulfillment division of the Carlson Marketing Group.
1991: Skip Gage, Curt Carlson's son-in-law and onetime heir to the Carlson Companies empire, buys Adistra and several other businesses from Carlson to launch his own company, Gage Marketing Services. Headquarters are moved to Plymouth. Over time, the client roster includes Target, Whirlpool and Taco Bell.
1998: Gage sells the fulfillment arm of the marketing-services company to AHL Services for $81 million.
2001: New headquarters, warehouse facilities open in Rogers.
2003: AHL and private equity firm Cravey, Green and Wahlen take the company private and change the name to Archway Marketing Services.
Feb. 2008: Union Street Acquisition Corp. of Alexandria, Va., announces that it will buy Archway's trade division, which focuses on business-to-business services, as part of a $110 million deal that also includes a Dallas-based direct-marketing firm.
Sources: Archway Marketing Services, Gage Marketing Services, Star Tribune archives.
