In the 1890s, West Bend's economy began to transition being a rural market town to being an industrial community. Early manufacturers included the Schmidt and Stork Wagon Company; the Enger-Kress Pocketbook Company, which moved its operations to West Bend in 1884; the West Bend Aluminum Company, which began manufacturing low-cost aluminum utensils in 1911; and Amity Leather, which was founded in West Bend in 1915 and was once the world's largest manufacturer of leather billfolds. Other 20th century manufacturers in West Bend included Pick Manufacturing Company, which fabricated automotive parts; Gehl Brothers Manufacturing Company, which produced construction and agricultural equipment; and West Bend Concrete Products.