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1910 – documented to the World War I era
The move: The Wilson Brothers and Stephenson entries of the Businesses record carry the city's great garment houses; the second rank of the trade stands here. W. W. Ridenour moved his plant from Logansport to South Bend in 1910 as the Ridenour Apron Company, and started with 36 machines. In the spring of 1913 the works moved into the St. Joe Building, at St. Joseph and East Wayne streets, and added 18 machines. The line grew with the room: from aprons it extended to white skirts and washable house dresses. The company sold exclusively to retailers, and its distribution ran from Ohio eastward to the Pacific coast, the larger part of it in the Midwest.
The wartime note: The industry booklet that carries the firm — it is the twenty-third entry of South Bend Today's "Through South Bend Industries," beside the O'Brien works' twenty-second — records the works in the war years unable to run near capacity for want of experienced seamstresses, despite added wage inducements. It is the same labor market the great garment houses drew on, felt from the second rank. No later course for the company was verified.
Sources:
- South Bend Today, "Through South Bend Industries," entry 23 (SJCPL Michiana Memory) — the 1910 move from Logansport, the 36 machines, the 1913 move to the St. Joe Building and the 18 added machines, the product line, the distribution, and the wartime shortage of seamstresses.