Made in the Valley
Stoves, lures, wagons and guitars
Twenty-three makers from the valley: what they made, how they ended, and where you can still see their work.
Project Scroll · · 1 min read
The St. Joseph River valley. For a century the towns of the valley made things the whole country knew by name.
Round Oak stoves came out of Dowagiac from 1871. James Heddon’s Sons made fishing lures there from 1902. Studebaker built wagons in South Bend, then cars. Gibson made mandolins and guitars in Kalamazoo, and C. G. Conn made band instruments in Elkhart.
The new Made in the Valley page follows twenty-three of them: who founded each one, what it made, when it peaked, how it ended, and the museums where its work is still on show.
Every maker is pinned on a map, and set on a timeline that runs from the 1850s to today.
Meet the makers The makers on a map and a timeline
Corrections: none
First published 21 October 2026. Like all our pages, it is expanded from time to time with new records, pictures and features. No factual corrections have been needed so far.
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