Major Bros — the packing house the manufacturers' story never claimed

1902 – 1949, in directory and press states

How it was missed: a mid-size manufacture filed under the food headings. A packing house is a factory — it kills, cuts, cures, and ships — but it presents itself to a directory as meats, and to a business history as provisioning, and so Mishawaka's packing house stood for four decades in the city's record without ever entering its manufacturing story. The record, once looked for, is full.

The course: Johnson's directory of 1902–03 lists Major Bros, meats, at 101 E. Joseph — the retail face of the house. By the nineteen-teens the firm is the city's livestock market itself: the South Bend News-Times' daily market columns run "LIVE STOCK. (Corrected Daily by Major Bros, S. Logan Street, Mishawaka)" in 1914 and 1918, prices for heavy fat steers, feeders, lambs and hogs quoted on the packing house's authority. The plant stands behind the market: a 1915 sale notice offers mules and delivery horses "at Major Bros.' Packing Company's plant, Mishawaka"; the News-Times of 19 July 1919 notes the fire department called to a grass fire "near the Major Bros. packing house on S. Logan st." Polk's 1921 classified gives the house its own heading's whole weight — under Packers, Beef and Pork, one firm: "MAJOR BROS PACKING CO, end S Logan." A 1937 advertisement in the Nappanee Advance-News — a paid testimonial, printed here as advertising and at advertising's strength — wishes the company well: "for a good many years this concern has served this community [with] its well known meat products… its plant in Mishawaka is a model." The New York Central's 1941 Western Division timetable still lists a "Major Bros. Track" among Mishawaka's industrial tracks — the plant rail-served in 1941. The 1949 classified carries the end of the name's independence at directory strength: under Meat Packers, at one address, 1121 W. 11th, stand two names — the Hygrade Food Products Corp. and the Major Bros Packing Co. The directory's own juxtaposition is all the succession record: by 1949 the plant carries a national packer's name beside the Mishawaka house's own, at a new address across town from the Logan Street ground. Which name operated the plant, and when Major Bros ceased to be its own company, the Tribune

Sources:

1. Johnson's Business & Professional Directory (1902–03), the Mishawaka Business Directory — "Major Bros, meats, 101 E Joseph"; the 1921 classified's Meat Markets heading also carries Major Fred J., 107 Lincoln Way W., the house's retail counter in that year.
2. South Bend News-Times, 22 June 1914, 24 June 1915, 20 November 1918, 19 July 1919 (Hoosier State Chronicles) — the daily livestock quotations corrected by Major Bros, S. Logan Street; the 1915 stock sale at the plant; the 1919 grass fire near the packing house.
3. Polk's Mishawaka City Directory (1921), classified directory, heading Packers — Beef and Pork — "MAJOR BROS PACKING CO, end S Logan."
4. Nappanee Advance-News, 8 July 1937 (Hoosier State Chronicles) — the advertiser's testimonial, marked "—Adv." in the original.
5. New York Central Railroad, Western Division timetable No. 10 (26 October 1941) — "Major Bros. Track" in the Mishawaka industrial-track list.
6. Polk's South Bend and Mishawaka City Directory (1949), Mishawaka classified, heading Meat Packers — Hygrade Food Products Corp. and Major Bros Packing Co., both at 1121 W. 11th, as read from a poor scan.