Sibley Machine Tool Company
Location: 206 E. Tutt St., South Bend
Ending their search for opportunities in the Midwest in 1874, Albert P. Sibley, John Mills, and G.O. Ware established the firm of Sibley, Mills, and Ware in a building on the West Race near Washington Street. They later moved to the former Bissell machine shops on the riverfront, where they began producing drill presses, for which they were well-known. In 1883 the shops were destroyed by fire; and the site between E. Tutt and Sample was purchased and buildings were built. The two double-story buildings on E. Tutt date from about 1890 and served as a machine shop and pulley shop. Drill presses were manufactured under patents granted to A.P. Sibley. In 1904 Sibley Machine Tool Company was incorporated and international sales began. Auto parts castings for General Motors, defense production, machine tools, and drilling and grinding machines were manufactured, but in 1968 the production of Sibley drills was phased out.
They closed their operation here in South Bend sometime in 2012.
