The company continues to transport goods to and from rail cars, but trucks have replaced the horses and wagons. The company’s primary business is now household moving and storage. Citizens Transfer, an agent for Allied Van Lines – “The Careful Movers” – since 1931, moves families and businesses locally, across the nation and around the world.
After working his way up in the company from bookkeeper to secretary/treasurer, Edward R. Belton purchased half the company’s stock in 1923 and became co-owner. In 1957 Belton purchased the remaining shares of stock and became president of the company. That same year Ed’s son, E.W. “Bill” Belton, joined the company as a warehouse helper, and the company has been in the Belton family ever since.
When Ed passed away in 1984, Bill became the company’s president and his wife, Barbara, became corporate vice president. Bill’s son, John, who joined the company in 1981 as a helper, worked his way through various positions within the company and eventually became operations manager in 1991. John was promoted to vice president of marketing and operations in 1994. In February 2001 all three of Bill and Barbara’s children, John, Mary Ann Belton and Katharine A. Jones, purchased the company upon Bill’s retirement. In 2004 Mary Ann and John purchased Katharine A. Jones interest in the company and in 2006, John purchased Mary Ann’s interest in the company making him the sole owner for their 100-year anniversary.
During his term as company president, Bill succeeded in building a strong financial base for Citizens Transfer. He ensured the company had the tools and inventory necessary to provide quality service to its customers. He played a key role in diversifying the business and expanding its service capabilities.
Planning is the key to a successful move, and Citizens Transfer offers services throughout the entire process, beginning with a move counselor working with the customer to create a detailed relocation plan. The company offers packing services and custom crating for fine art. The team of moving experts from Citizens Transfer, including seasoned, professional packers, van foremen and furniture movers, which ensures a seamless relocation.
Citizens Transfer expanded operations into Sierra Vista in 1970. This facility continues to this day to support the Fort Huachuca Army Base and the community of Sierra Vista and surrounding areas.
Citizens Business Archives (CBA), a subsidiary of Citizens Transfer in Tucson, provides businesses with warehouse space to store critical documents and business records. The 18,000-square-foot facility is both fire-protected and access-controlled to ensure the safety of its stored contents. The records are computer-indexed and bar-coded for quick and easy identification. CBA also has a temperature-controlled facility for storing computer media, audio and video tapes. CBA offers delivery, pickup and shredding services.
Citizens Transfer also offers services to commercial and office relocation clients. Specialized equipment, custom-made gondolas and panel carts are utilized to protect furniture, electronics, books and workstations. The equipment allows the company to easily move precision instruments, manufacturing equipment and heavy items such as safes, all in a professional and timely manner.
Tucson businesses make up a large part of the company’s clientele. Citizens Transfer has multiple fire-protected, secure and access-controlled commercial warehouses providing storage for commodities, raw materials and finished goods. Other services include logistics management, cross-docking and freight re-delivery. The warehouses, equipped with machinery for handling specialized and palletized materials, are served by rail sidings accommodating 4 cars and 5 semi bays. With its fleet of trucks, the company transports materials to and from its warehouses to customers throughout Southern Arizona.
Today, the leaders of Citizen Transfer are moving in a different direction. On April 1st, 2022 John Belton sold the house hold goods and commercial divisions of Citizens Transfer & Storage Co., Inc. to Coleman American Moving Services, Inc., the largest Allied Van Lines agent in the world. They have 56 locations across the country and they were formed in 1914 in Alabama. They were in 21 states and with this transaction it makes 22 states. Belton is confident that Coleman will continue to deliver excellent service to the Old Pueblo and to continue the dependable service that the community comes to expect from Citizens Transfer & Storage Co., Inc.
Coleman American Moving Services Inc. will be performing the moving and household storage portion of Citizens Transfer & Storage Co., Inc. and Citizens Business Archives or CBA will continue to perform document storage and destruction services. We added document storage to the services performed by Citizens Transfer & Storage Co., Inc. in the early 1970’s and then in early 1980 we added Citizens Business Archives as the name of the Document Storage entity for the services performed by CBA. In September of 1997 we purchased a company called AAA Archives. In early 1998 we purchased the building at 710 E. Silverlake Rd. We moved the newly purchased AAA Archives into the 710 E. Silverlake Rd. building along with the document storage cartons that we had stored at 601 E. 24th St. and we have worked out of the 710 E. Silverlake Rd. building ever since that time. In November of 2010 we purchased another document storage company called FACS Record Center bringing our total amount of managed cartons to roughly 270,000 or 2,147,096 files under roof.
Owner/President/CEO
Operations Manager