South Bend Bait Company The South Bend Bait company was developed from a small business started in 1896 by Mr. F.G. "Bucktail" Worden, the inventor of Bucktail Baits. In 1909, three people, F.A. Bryan, F.L. Denis and B.W. Oliver did all of the work making and distributing products. A far cry from the modern multi-departmental company that we have become.
Those three gentlemen attracted capital and investors from Chicago and formed the South Bend Bait company in 1909. In 1910 they brought in a man named Ivar Hennings. Hennings was an enthusiastic angler and untiring businessman, typical characteristics of every South Bend employee. Mr. Hennings' ability to organize and implement was apparent from day one. He moved the company to Colfax Avenue in downtown South Bend Indiana. By 1915 they had fifty women on the assembly line and fifteen full time salesmen in the field distributing their popular brand of lures in the U.S., Canada, and France.
|
|
