Bissell was established in 1876 by Anna and Melville Bissell, who owned a crockery shop in Grand Rapids. Anna was having trouble getting cleaning sawdust out of the carpet. Her husband designed a carpet sweeper machine. That led to patenting the machine and selling it commercially. The first factory was built in 1883 in Grand Rapids.
In 1889, Melville passed away and Anna took over the company. This led to further product development including a rug shampooer and a formula for the cleaning solution in the 1960's. In 1979 the company developed a deep cleaning machine for carpets. Eventually the company acquired the Woolite Carpet and Upholstery business which included their carpet cleaning supplies.
In 2002, the company moved its manufacturing plant from Walker MI To McAllen TX. Later on production switched to Mexico and then China. I have used the address of the headquarters in Grand Rapids as it was re-used and re-opened for other operations.