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3 Historic Context When•the company decided to have this office structure erected, it had successfully been manufacturing products in South Bend since 1852, beginning as a blacksmith operation building wagons on the side. The company went on to become extremely influential as one of South Bend's premier catalysts for growth and success. In 1876 the company claimed to be the largest manufacturer of its kind in the country. By 1889 it was estimated that Studebaker had drawn at least seventy other businesses into the city, helping develop South Bend into one of the Midwest's premier, mid -sized industrial towns. Becoming the Studebaker Corporation in 1911, the firm remained as one of the city's most important employers until ceasing automobile production locally in 1963. A 1856 lithograph depicts the H. and C. Studebaker factory (the firm's first name) which consisted of an one - and -a -half story frame office and "carriage repository" adjacent to a barn and attached shed. in 1868, after Civil War orders had stimulated expansion, the plant grew to include two - and -a -half and three -story frame factory buildings surrounding the 1850's structures. By 1872, the Studebaker plant included a Second Empire - styled office attached to mansard - roofed, brick buildings and expanded factory space and lumber yards. A disastrous fire then destroyed over two thirds of these "manufactories" in 1874; the company promptly rebuilt "on a grander scale" than before. In 1876 the rebuilt plant facing Lafayette Street had become a truly mammoth complex with an Italianate- styled office building and acres of manufacturing buildings connected by rails.[2] In the early 1870's the company also began building branch offices and showrooms around the country. The first, in St. Joseph, Missouri, was joined by many other "repositories" (as the firm insisted on calling their showrooms) in major cities around the country. The twentieth century also saw branches built in London, Buenos Aires and Sydney, Australia.[3] The new Administration Building was first occupied on June 26, 1909. The company had formed a special committee to assign offices; the president of the firm's office was in the southeast corner of the fourth floor. Ushers were hired to conduct visitors to and from the various departments and offices. Visitors were not allowed on the third floor, the location of the "machine operating rooms" housing typewriters, adding- machines and the like. The third floor also housed the company's "sensitive materials" secured in storage vaults. The building was designed to be more than just an office complex. As a company with the reputation for having relatively good employee relations, Studebaker encouraged the formation of clubs promoting "fellowship, loyalty and enthusiasm." These organizations, called the Studebaker Club (men) and the Mary Ann Club (women), were also accommodated in the basement.