Celebrating 114 Years of Service

Founded

Before the major van lines, tractor trailers and the interstate highway system.  Before talking movies, refrigerators, and moving cartons.  It was 1909, and young David H. Levine started a business, going door to door on his Horse and Wagon—refurbishing local townspeople’s mattresses and selling homemade quilts.   During his travels, David developed friendships with local movers, who shared with him their challenges when moving household goods safely.   This gave David an idea.  After returning home from World War I, he worked on toughening his New Haven quilts so that movers could utilize them to protect their customers’ goods.  The movers experienced these new “Moving Blankets” as a game changer, and  David’s passion for designing quality moving pads and products was borne.  In 1911 David opened the first New Haven store in New Haven, Connecticut (he would have been so gratified to know that in the century ahead, his sons and grandsons would open 16 more from coast to coast), and dedicated himself to creating safer and smarter ways for movers to move.

A Country in Transition

It was an historic time for our country—first the Great Depression followed by WWII. David had volunteered for service in the American Expeditionary Forces during WWI and had a great love for our country and our servicemen, seeking ways to help however he could. David ultimately was able to channel his expertise with textiles and equipment into the war effort—manufacturing camouflage nets for both theaters of war as well as the iconic green G.I blanket. Later, recognizing the need for a national infrastructure—something that would ultimately play a vital role for interstate movers, David produced curing mats used in the formation of highways on the East Coast. And in the decades to follow, David engineered the first machine made moving pad in the United States, elevating its quality and consistency.

New Haven Expands

In the 1960’s David turned the leadership of New Haven to his son and our father, J. Paul Levine, who inherited from his father a dedication to the moving industry.. As a young man, Paul had worked on the production of the F101 jet fighter while serving in the US Air Force and immediately sought to infuse his love of engineering and transportation into New Haven and to expand the scope of New Haven’s innovative designs in order to serve additional industries. Paul went on to develop and introduce a large array of state-of-the-art products for the moving, transportation, aeronautics, relocation, military, commercial and entertainment industries, many of which would earn First in Class and are still in use today by professional movers. However, Paul is most fondly remembered —not only for the key role he played in establishing our country’s industry standards in moving equipment but also, for the relationships he created with his staff, with his customers and with movers here and abroad. He was proud of his role in helping moving company’s get their start and playing a mentorship and community role for decades. Paul’s legacy of placing customer service at the core of New Haven is something carried forward to this day. As such, he was the first vendor to have Earned the “Distinguished Service Award” by the American Moving Association and was presented post-humously with the International Mover’s Association Life Achievement Award in 2017.

A Family Business

After our father's passing, we (sons James, Roger and Larry) unequivocally knew what the company’s mission needed to embody: a synthesis of what our father Paul stood for-- prioritizing customer support and the manufacturing of only the highest quality products—along with the important goal of maintaining economical, below market pricing so that our customers could thrive in today’s very competitive world. We were excited in the early 1990’s, after years of research and development, to utilize robotics and lasers in the creation of furniture moving pads in our Louisville and L.A. factories. Also in the 1990’s, we expanded our distribution of Corrugated and Moving Boxes to now include a vast array of specialty boxes, used not only by household goods and commercial movers, but also by international movers and the military. With the advent of the 21st century and growing customer expectations for online purchasing and expedited deliveries/shipments, we worked hard to create a website that would allow professionals in all of the industries we serve to order and receive products effortlessly, and for the first time would give consumers, who are in need of moving boxes and packaging, the ability to buy products that meet high professional standards. And to ensure the safety of our drivers and to protect the integrity of our products en route to our customers, we invested in a state-of-the-art truck fleet.

As our world and the demands of technology, the economy and the industries keep changing, we are excited to evolve to meet our clients’ needs. But we will always remain passionately focused, as did our father and grandfather, on maintaining a sense of family with all our customers and to earning your trust every day.