It was 1939 when three brothers, Norman, Francis and Roy O. Wetz, started the Wetz Brothers Trucking Company. Seventy-five years later, now known as Wetz Trucking & Warehousing, the thriving business is still owned and operated by the Wetz family, including Tag and Dee Wetz and their sons, Evan and Derrick.

“My father and two uncles founded the company. They had a couple of trucks and delivered coal to area homes in the winter,” Tag said. “They didn’t have a dump truck, and had to shovel the coal by hand. During the summer months they would haul for Marietta Truck Growers, delivering produce as far as Cleveland and Pittsburgh.”

As industry began to build in the Mid-Ohio Valley, Wetz trucks would haul supplies and equipment for a variety of area businesses like Union Carbide, United Dairy in Beverly, Pattin Manufacturing and Marietta Concrete.

“They hauled concrete to build the sports stadiums in Pittsburgh,” Tag said. “And the company also hauled equipment and materials for the coal mining industry in West Virginia. Back then they had four or five trucks.”

In 1948 Roy O. Wetz became sole owner of the company and changed the name to R.O. Wetz Transportation, later relocating the business from its original Second Street location to Pike Street in Marietta.

Tag Wetz, now 73, began working full time for his father in the 1960s.

“We had about seven trucks when I started, but shortly after that the company really expanded,” he said. “At one time we had more than 40 trucks.”

In the 1970s deregulation of the trucking industry had Wetz looking to diversify the business.

“At that time we started the warehousing,” Tag said, noting the company’s first warehouse was at the current location of the Washington County Jail on Westview Avenue. Other warehouses were established and leased in Williamstown, Vienna and Paden City, W.Va.

In 2003 Tag and Dee Wetz bought out Tag’s brother, Roy E. Wetz, his wife Rilla, and Tag’s sister, Jeanne Wetz, who were former partners in the business.

Now all of the company’s warehouses and trucking facilities are located on Blue Knob Road, just off Ohio 7, between Marietta and Belpre.

“Our first warehouse along Ohio 7 was built in 1985,” said Dee Wetz.

Son Evan now handles the company’s warehousing business, while brother Derrick takes care of the trucking business.

“We have nine warehouses now, with a total of close to 700,000 square feet of space,” Evan said. “We store plastics, metals, and a variety of materials and products for area manufacturers and other companies. We serve a very diverse array of customers. And we ship worldwide.”

He said about half of the company’s business is with local firms, but the other half of Wetz customers are scattered throughout the world, including China, Brazil, Australia and Europe.

Derrick said the trucking end of the business has also expanded.

“We now have 19 drivers and 22 trucks, and ship to most of the Eastern U.S., from the Mississippi River to the coast,” he said. “And although there’s a shortage of experienced truck drivers currently across the country, most of our drivers have at least 15-plus years of experience.”

Dee added that two of the company’s total 51 employees have been with Wetz for more than 35 years, and have formed a great team for the business.

“That’s one reason we’ve made it for 75 years,” Derrick said.

After three generations the Wetz family continues to plan for the future of their growing business.

“Our intent is to keep on growing,” Tag said.