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1871–1925 · BOUNDARY SIZE, SOUTH BEND GROUND · GRANGER SHARE STATED
These works are boundary material, printed at boundary size, with the Granger share stated at this article's end. The plow works that was not Oliver was the South Bend Chilled Plow Company, and it was a Knoblock house before it was a plow house: the Knoblock Brothers' Manufacturing Company was organized April 18, 1871, by John C., William and Theodore E. Knoblock and John H. Dolman, for farm implements; in 1875 the brothers refitted the former Northern Indiana Normal College and, as the St. Joseph Reaper and Machine Company, made reapers — and in 1876 made 650 chilled plows that were distributed as samples to local farmers. On July 1, 1878, the company was reorganized and incorporated as the South Bend Chilled Plow Company, Adam S. Baker president, J. C. Knoblock treasurer, George W. Baker secretary. It sold well over 10,000 plows in 1878; by 1880 it employed 100 men and manufactured 50,000 plows, under its own patents — chilled plows, steel plows, sulky and gang plows, and the Casaday three-wheel sulky plow. James Oliver's works "simply overwhelmed its opponents," the Oliver record concedes the company among them, and the end came by sale: on February 17, 1925, the Tribune reported the South Bend Chilled Plow Company bought by the Vulcan Plow Company of Evansville — inventory, goodwill, trade name, patterns, jigs, tools and dies, but not the real estate — after which Oliver's firm stood once again the sole maker of chilled plows in South Bend.
The other chilled plow after it was Bissell's. T. M. Bissell had bought into Oliver and Little in 1860 and ran production in the renamed Oliver and Bissell from 1863; the Bissell Chilled Plow Works that later stood on the river was the breakaway house — the Oliver history says the South Bend Chilled Plow Company itself "had been organized by Bissell and allegedly used Oliver patents," a claim the two traditions attach differently (the History Museum's account gives the Chilled Plow Company to the Knoblocks, as above), and both print. What is documentary for Bissell is litigation: in Bissell Chilled Plow Works v. South Bend Manufacturing Company, 111 N.E. 932 (Ind. App., March 16, 1916), the Bissell works stood as a going riverfront manufacturer, its ash and slag deposits in the St. Joseph River bed the subject of a mandatory injunction — a works of substance, still fighting over water power in 1916. The Tribune's retrospective counts four chilled-plow companies in South Bend in all, Oliver's the first; the fourth name on the checklist, an "Economist" plow works, was searched for and not found in any source reached — no company of that name appears in the History Museum's plow record, the Chapman manufactories list, or the web record — and it is carried to this section's closing article as a named miss, with the History Museum's industrial files as its settler.
The Granger share, stated plainly: none of these works stood on Granger ground, and no implement works ever did. This ground's share of the plow trade was the demand side and one dealership line — Harris Prairie farms bought the plows all four houses competed to sell, and the only implement-adjacent business the village directory ever listed here was Franklin E. Lowry's grain, lumber and live stock dealing (see the sweep article). The rivals existed; they were the flagship's, in the flagship's city.
Sources: The History Museum (South Bend), "South Bend Chilled Plow Company" (the Knoblock organization of April 18, 1871; the St. Joseph Reaper and Machine Company, 1875; the 650 sample plows of 1876; the incorporation of July 1, 1878, and its officers; 10,000 plows in 1878; 100 men and 50,000 plows in 1880; the Casaday sulky; the Vulcan sale on the Tribune's report of February 17, 1925). Howard (1907), vol. 1, §9 (the Knoblock Brothers' Manufacturing Company, organized April 18, 1871, for farm implements). Bissell Chilled Plow Works v. South Bend Manufacturing Co., 111 N.E. 932, 64 Ind. App. 1 (1916). Oliver Chilled Plow Works history (the overwhelmed opponents; the Bissell organization claim). South Bend Tribune, July 16, 2026 retrospective (four chilled-plow companies in South Bend, Oliver's the first). Polk's Indiana State Gazetteer, 1882–83, Granger entry (see the sweep article). Banked Businesses (the Martin's tested negative; the Big C entry).