SOUTH BEND — A new state historical marker will be publicly dedicated Aug. 8 to commemorate local industrialist J.D. Oliver, president and owner of the influential Oliver Chilled Plow Works more than a century ago, along with his family.
Joseph Doty Oliver’s mansion at 808 W. Washington St., known as Copshaholm, is now part of The History Museum. The ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. just outside of Copshaholm. Parking will be available at the museum and on neighborhood streets.
Oliver, whose father, James, had invented the Oliver Chilled Plow, grew the family business internationally and made it one of the largest in the world in the late 1800s, the marker states. He named his mansion Copshaholm for his father’s Scottish birthplace. The Oliver family was key to South Bend’s early growth, as they financially supported an opera house, hotel, playground and housing for their workforce, among other things.
The marker is the sixth state historical marker to be installed in St. Joseph County in the last eight years and among several others erected since the 1960s. Most recently, the markers have honored the South Bend Blue Sox women's professional baseball team at Ironwood Drive by IU South Bend’s student housing complex; African American attorneys J. Chester and Elizabeth Allen at 115 S. Lafayette Blvd., IU South Bend near 1700 Mishawaka Ave.; the Better Homes of South Bend project at north Elmer and Keller streets, and poet Kenneth Rexroth at 828 Park Ave.
The Indiana Historical Bureau, a division of the Indiana State Library, oversees the state historical marker program (in.gov/history).