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1964 – 1989 · present state re-logged
The plant's second life, at its documented size:The photographic history of the wartime industry carries it the rest of the documented way: combined Kaiser Jeep and AM General production at Chippewa of 112,000 five-ton and 150,000 two-and-a-half-ton trucks before the plant closed in 1989. What followed, in that record's present tense: the buildings passed to warehouse and light-manufacturing use by several small companies, AM General keeping a small presence at the location. It is printed here at that attribution's exact size — a single documented account, not a surveyed one — and the plant's state in 2026 is not established in any stronger source. The settling source for a fuller account is the property and press record of the Chippewa Avenue site itself; the item is re-logged at that address.
Sources:
- U.S. Auto Industry in World War II, Studebaker plant photographic history (usautoindustryworldwartwo.com) — the Chippewa plant's Kaiser Jeep / AM General truck production totals; the 1989 closing; warehouse and light-manufacturing use since, with a small AM General presence.
- South Bend Tribune, September 3, 2026, "169 years of South Bend military vehicle production" — the 1964 Kaiser-Jeep purchase of the Chippewa Avenue plant and military contracts, and the AM General succession, as the Story of South Bend section the photographic history extends.