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1869 – documented to 1907
Two accounts of the origin: This is not the Staley woolen mill of the Businesses record's Stephenson entry, and the two are not to be merged. Of the South Bend Woolen Company, Howard writes that it was "an institution originating in Mishawaka": its beginning managers — Joseph Worden, George W. Lewis, Corwin B. Van Pelt, and Henry G. Niles — were Mishawaka men, and Niles was still its president in 1907. The Monon Society's mill account dates the company's operations to 1869 and puts its mill on the east bank of the St. Joseph River between LaSalle and Colfax streets, in South Bend, producing principally woolen fabrics for men's wear — suiting and overcoatings. Both accounts are printed: a South Bend mill, on South Bend ground from 1869 on the mill account, of Mishawaka parentage on Howard's. The firm advertised in Farr's 1883 directory, which carries "South Bend Woolen Co." in its index of advertisers. Its course after 1907 was not traced. Mishawaka's own build, when it comes, will carry the parentage from its side; the mill stands here because the ground and the works were this city's.
Sources:
- Timothy E. Howard, A History of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Vol. 1 (1907), manufactures chapter, sec. 11 — the company's Mishawaka origin, its beginning managers, and Henry G. Niles's presidency.
- Monon Society, the mill account — the 1869 dating, the mill's place on the river between LaSalle and Colfax, and its men's-wear fabrics.
- Farr's South Bend City Directory for 1883, Index to Advertisers — the company's advertisement.