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All of these got their start in 1917, the year Charles W. Klasek, Sr., founded a mailing business in St. Louis, Mo. For 90 years, Klasek Letter Company has dedicated itself to providing quality, cost-effective mailing services to its clients. Today it is still a family-owned and -operated business. It all began when Charles W. Klasek, Sr., the son of immigrants and a former night supervisor at Laclede Gas Company in St. Louis, exhibited the can-do business attitude of the nation in 1917. He purchased printing equipment, typewriters and office furniture from an acquaintance of his sister, rented space in a downtown St. Louis office building and went into business as the Circular Letter Advertising Company. At the time, direct mail was becoming an increasingly popular business tool. In 1917, the typical personalized direct-mail letter was a "fill-in letter." The body of the letter was printed on a multigraph press with personalization filled in individually by operators on typewriters. Envelopes were addressed on a typewriter; matching and inserting were done by hand. By the late 1920s the Circular Letter Advertising Company employed more than 25 people and had moved to larger offices in a different building. At that time, the company's largest customers were brokerage houses selling stocks and bonds by mail. The company managed to weather the stock market crash of 1929, but the Securities Act of 1933, changing how securities could be sold, had a devastating effect on business. As the company struggled to survive during the Depression, it moved to smaller quarters. In 1936, Circular Letter formed a partnership with the Better Letter Company, located in the same building, and operated for a year as the Associated Letter Producers. The arrangement was not a success; in 1937 the companies split and Klasek Letter Company was formed. By 1947, Klasek's son, Charles W. Klasek, Jr., joined the company after serving in the U.S. Army in World War II and returning home to finish his college degree at St. Louis University. The post-war economic boom was good for Klasek Letter Company, and it began to add new equipment and new clients. In the early 1950s, redevelopment plans for the Gateway Arch and surrounding area affected the building in which the company was located. That, coupled with the company's needs for larger, first-floor space and to be closer to clients located outside the downtown area, put Klasek Letter Company on the move again, this time to a commercial area west of downtown. Within a few years, however, the company again found itself in the path of progress as the area was slated for highway construction and commercial redevelopment. The company was able to find a nearby location, in which it stayed for 25 years. In that time period, the Klasek Letter added improved printing and addressing systems, automated inserters and other equipment to keep abreast of the industry. Web offset presses, computers and laser printers came along in the 1980s to serve the changing demand for personalization. By this time, a third generation of the Klasek family was on hand to oversee innovations. Charles G. Klasek joined the company in 1984 after completing an MBA degree at Indiana University and working for a manufacturing company in Ft. Wayne, Ind. Once again, the company was growing and moved into larger space in 1985. Klasek Letter continued to enhance its data processing and printing capabilities in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During the 1990s, Klasek Letter acquired other mailing and data processing companies to expand its mailing capacity, web printing and laser printing production and added polywrapping capabilities. In 1993, Klasek Letter moved its mailing, data processing and customer service operations to the company's present headquarters in 75,000 square feet of space south of downtown St. Louis, while maintaining printing operations in the other location. In the 2000s, innovations have included more printing capabilities, improved electronic matching systems, high-speed inserting with inline addressing, and other technical innovations. Klasek Letter added a trade bindery and a teleprospecting call center to its services. Today, the company serves clients nationwide and processes an annual mail volume of over 300 million pieces, making it one of the largest mailing companies in the Midwest. It takes determination, hard work and a little bit of luck for a company to survive and prosper for 90 years. Founded with an entrepreneurial spirit, Klasek Letter Company remains committed to growing and changing with the mailing business of the future.