The matter of South Bend Toy Manufacturing Company, Inc.

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Mr. Karl G. King, President Economic Development Association 320 W. Jefferson Blvd. South Bend, Indiana 46601 Dear Karl: _Pursuant to our conversation, this letter states our intention to apply for financing assistance by means of the issuance of Induustrial Revenue Bonds through the Economic Development Commission of the City of South Bend for our proposed purchase, remodeling and expansion of the property at 3300 W. Sample Street, South Bend, Indiana. This s property is presently owned by the Bendix Corporation and has been vacant for ap- proximately one year. We intend to move from our present location at 1012 S. High Street, which is inadequate and impractical to expand to accomodate our projected growth in sales, manufacturing, and employment. Our company is currently leasing the High Street property AP-eth the lease exp,.rirg January 31, 1973. 1, After thorough investigation of the possib=lities of remodeling our High Street plant and finding excessive costs involved because of the mill tyre construction, low ceiling heights, lack of available land, and the inherent inefficiencies of -manu- facturing operations in multi-story buildings, we began, with the concurrence of our parent company, the Milton Bradley Company of Springfield, Mass. to actively seek other plant sites in the Middle West. The West Sample Street property seemed to have the best potential locally, however, extensive remodelling was found to be necessary to properly accommodate this property for our operations. Following is information which we understand is desired from us as a preliminary step f qualifying for the financing desired: I History of the Company: This Company was started in 1874 on the old Mill Race i in South Bend by John W. Teel and Frederick H. Badet. The original products were croquet sets. Other action games joined the product line and toys soon followed. By i 1888 the Company had been named the South Bend Toy Manufacturing Company and moved to ? its present location at 1012 S. High Street. In 1895 the Company produced the first willow doll carriages to be presented in the American market. Since that time South Bend has been the leading manufacturer of croquet sets and doll vehicles. Recent developments have been directed into the leisure time field and rapid growth has been experienced in the recreational and j family-type game markets. Sales , which have doubled in the past seven years, have prospects of continuing to increase substantially in future •years. II„ Ownership Progression:. Teel and Badet 1874-1888 The South Bend Toy Manufacturing Company 1888-1957 Fohrman and Doraan 1957-1958 Fohrman and Dorgan and Playskool Mfg. Co. 1958-1959 Playskool Mfg. Co. 1959-1968 Milton Bradley Co. 1968- III. From our investigations and projections to date we can state that: The buildings at 3300 West Sample Street exist in sound condition and to our know- ledge there will be no conflict with the Area Plan Commission. The burden on the Fire and Police Departments as a result of this move will not change and there are no extensions of public sewer, water and roa3way facilities re- quired. I✓.t: :r,, DSO We estimate that an a-lc:itien.al 100 people from the currently unemployed local labor force will be nee3ed in the rl_aar future to meet our increasing sales projections. j