The river is marked on the pat as the “Big St. Josef river.”
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The First Ferry and Steamboat Landing
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“Order by the board aforesaid, that a ferry be established at the east end of
Water street [now La Salle avenue], in the town of South Bend, aver the
St. Joseph river, and that there be a tax assessed thereon to the amount
of two dollars; and that N. B. Griffith be licensed to keep the aforesaid
ferry, and that the said Griffith be required to keep a good and sufficient
flat, or boat, to convey conveniently over said river two horses and a
wagon at one time.
“Order by the board aforesaid, that the following be the rates of ferriage at the ferry
established at the town of South Bend, to wit: For each person, 6 ¼ cents;
for a man and a horse, 12 ½ cents; for one horse and a wagon or carriage,
25 cents; for two horses and a wagon, 31 ¼ cents; for each additional horse,
with a wagon as above, 6 ¼ cents; for oxen in wagons the same rate as horses;
for loose cattle, three cents a head; for hogs and sheep, two cents a head.
“Ordered by the board aforesaid, that the said N. B. Griffith be required to keep twelve
hands to attend the aforesaid ferry.”
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| Railroads |
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Sec. 1.-The Lake Shore.—But the increased facilities for public
travel and for commercial transactions, for the marketing of the products of the
soil and the procuring of commodities needed for the use of the people, afforded
by the opening of the Michigan road, adding as they did to the accommodations
furnished by the navigation of the St. Joseph river, as well as by the stage
travel and the wagon traffic over the various other thoroughfares of the
territory watered by the St. Joseph and the Kankakee, could not satisfy the
eager commercial spirit of the people of St. Joseph county. As early as 1832,
as we have seen, Mr. John D. Defrees, in the Northwestern Pioneer, advocated
the encouragement of the building of a railroad into “the St. Joseph country.”
The attention of the people of the state was then chiefly engrossed by the construction
and operation of the Wabash and Erie canal, and the high hopes awakened as
to the great commercial highway connecting Lake Erie and the Wabash river.
However, in February 1835, the legislature passed an act for the incorporation
of a company to be known as the Buffalo & Mississippi railroad company, with
the design to have a railroad constructed from Buffalo to the Mississippi river.
In 1838 a company was organized under this act to build a railroad from the
eastern boundary of the state, to run through South Bend and Michigan City.
General Joseph Orr, of Laporte county, was the active mover in this enterprise.
But little headway could then be made, and the project was abandoned for several
years.
In 1847, the agitation was renewed, and a meeting of persons interested, from Toledo to
Chicago, was held at Mishawaka. At this meeting Thomas S. Stanfield first appeared
as a railroad builder. To the untiring efforts of this eminent man, St. Joseph
county was ultimately indebted for the first railroads that entered its territory.
After Alexis Coquillard, there is no man to whom St. Joseph county is more largely
indebted than to Thomas S. Stanfield. When the time comes in which the county shall
provide for the erection of statues to its distinguished citizens, the figure of
Judge Stanfield, who brought to us our first railroads and opened up to the world
our cities and towns and our splendid farming territory, will not be forgotten.
At this time a corporation known as the Michigan Southern railroad company had constructed
its road from Toledo, Ohio, to Hillsdale, Michigan; and it was proposed that a
corresponding Indiana corporation should be formed to aid in completing the road
to Chicago. This resulted in the formation of the Northern Indiana railroad company.
In 1850 the two companies were consolidated under the name of the Michigan Southern
& Northern Indiana Railroad Company. Desiring to reach Chicago more directly than
could be done through Michigan City, the old charter of the Buffalo & Mississippi
company was resorted to, and the road thus completed by way of Mishawaka, South Bend
and Laporte.
But the rivalry then existing between the Michigan Central railroad company and the Michigan
Southern & Northern Indiana again brought Judge Stanfield’s resourcefulness into action.
When the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana was built as far as White Pigeon, it found itself unable to reach the Indiana line
in a direct route without violating the terms of the charter which it had received
from the state of Michigan. This unfavorable legislation had been enacted through
the influence of the rival railroad; and the result was that the Michigan Southern
must either come to a standstill or else go out of its way at a considerable loss.
In this juncture Judge Stanfield proposed to the company that they should furnish
him with the means, and he would procure the right of way and build an independent
line of railway, four miles in length, extending from White Pigeon to the Indiana
line. This was done; and for ten years this four miles of road, known as the Portage
railroad, was nominally owned by Judge Stanfield, but leased from him by the company
and operated as a part of the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana.
To aid the enterprise, St. Joseph county agreed to subscribe for forty thousand dollars of the
capital stock of the company; but the private subscriptions by the people proved
sufficient for the building of the road, and the country subscription was not needed.
Even the stock subscribed by the citizens was taken off their hands by Judge Stanfield
who found eastern capitalist glad to take it, so that the building of this great highway
of commerce, so vital to the prosperity of our community, was completed without cost to
the county of to any of its people.
The day when the first through train from the east reached Mishawaka and South Bend is memorable
in the history of St. Joseph county. This was on Saturday evening, October 4, 1851;
and when the locomotive, John Stryker, came puffing into the stations it was received
with all demonstrations of joy by the assembled multitudes. Cheer after cheer came from
the enthusiastic people whose hopes were thus gratified. Forty-eight rounds of cannon
and brilliant bonfires bore the joyous intelligence to the sight and hearing of the eager
inhabitants who were themselves unable to be present. Almost equal enthusiasm was manifested
on the incoming and outgoing of the trains on the ensuing Monday, and for days afterwards.
It was the culmination of the efforts and hopes of the people, ever since the first settlement
of the county. After the consolidation of this great railroad with the Lake Shore road from
Buffalo to Toledo the name of the consolidated railroad was changed to the Lake Shore & Michigan
Southern. It is commonly spoken of as the Lake Shore railroad.
Sec. 2.—The Michigan Central.—In 1867 a company was formed at Jackson, Michigan, designed
to aid in extending the Grand Trunk railroad through Michigan and Indiana to Chicago.
The first plan contemplated going by way of Niles, and then by the most direct line to
Chicago. This would have left South Bend out. The name of the company was afterwards
changed to the Michigan Air Line railroad company, and under this name it began work.
A lack of funds however compelled the company in 1869 to lease its road to the Michigan
Central railroad company. The Air Line road was then rapidly completed from Jackson to
Niles. An Indiana company was next formed to extend the Air Line to South Bend. To this
project the city of South Bend extended its financial aid by subscribing for twenty-five
thousand dollars of capital stock. The Michigan Central leased this South Bend branch
also, and thus the Michigan Central system reached South Bend early in the year 1870.
Thomas S. Stanfield was also the force that secured this extension of the Michigan Central
to our county. It is said that for years this ten mile branch from South Bend to Niles was
the most profitable ten miles of road in the whole Michigan Central system.
Sec. 3—The Grand Trunk.—But the people of St. Joseph county, led by Judge Stanfield, were
not satisfied without making further efforts to secure the passage of the Grand Trunk
extension through Mishawaka and South Bend. Several distinct companies were formed with
this project in view,--first, a company known as the Port Huron 7 Lake Michigan railway
company, to build the road from Port Huron to Flint, Michigan; second, a company called
the Peninsular railway company, to build the road from Lansing by way of Battle Creek to
the Indiana line; third, an Indiana company, to build the road from the Michigan line by
Mishawaka, South Bend and Valparaiso to the Illinois line; fourth, an Illinois company
to extend the road to Chicago; and, fifth, a company to build the gap in the road from
Flint to Lansing, thus completing the road from the Grand Trunk, at Port Huron, to Chicago.
These several companies were consolidated under the name of the Chicago 7 Lake Huron railway
company. The companies were all weak financially and the building of so great a stretch of
railroad was too much for their scant treasuries aided by all the credit that could be obtained.
The result was that the road was for a long time operated by a receiver. In 1879 the Grand
Trunk of Canada became satisfied that it needed this poor insolvent road, in order to secure
connection with Chicago and the great northwest. The road from Port Huron to Chicago, by way
of Mishawaka and South Bend, thus became a part of the Grand Trunk system, one of the great
railroads connecting Montreal, New York and the east with Chicago and the northwest.
Sec. 4—The Division Street Incident.—A painful episode connected with the building of the Grand Trunk
road through South Bend is the wrong done the residents of Division street in that city. By
an ordinance passed through the common council March 2, 1868, the “Peninsular Railway Company
of Indiana” had been authorized to lay its railroad tracks on Division Street. This was done
without any consent from the people on the street. Division street was then one of the most
pleasant of the residence streets of South Bend, and the citizens living along that street
were bitterly opposed to having their beautiful homes blackened with smoke and disturbed with
the rumbling of trains and the shrieking of locomotives day and night,--to say nothing of the
practical closing of the street to public travel and the endangering of the lives of their
families by the incessant passage of trains. The railroad authorities, on the other hand, and
the people of the county generally, while acknowledging the injustice done the residents of
Division street, were yet extremely desirous of having the tracks laid through the city, so
that the great enterprise should be completed on to Chicago. Each party waited anxiously for
the outcome. On August the 31st, 1871, the railroad company, having finished the bridge over
the St. Joseph river and collected all materials needed for laying the ties and rails, gathered
a large force of men and laid their tracks through the city along the devoted street, and then
ran their locomotives and cars over the line, in the face of the angry protest of the residents.
Litigation at once followed and has not been ended even to this day. It is very probable that
the company have long since realized that they did not only an unjust, but also an impolitic
thing, in thus forcing their way along Division street, against the united and persistent
opposition of the people. Notwithstanding the acknowledged benefit of the Grand Trunk road to
South Bend and St. Joseph county, the people have never warmed to the company on account of the
great injustice done in the first instance. Though sympathy, the large majority of the people have
adopted as their own the cause of their wronged fellow citizens on Division street. It would
have been much better for the company to have gone through the city on a line near to the Lake
Shore railroad and in territory already devoted to railroad uses. This lesson, now so evident,
has however been learned too late. The wrong has been done, and it is not easy to see how it may
be repaired. It is but another illustration of the truth, that the end can never justify the means.
An advantage, however great, is too dearly brought when purchased by an act of cruelty or injustice.
Section 5.—Other Railroads.—What was done for South Bend,
Mishawaka, Osceola, New Carlisle and the northern part of the county by bringing her of the great
lines of Lake Shore, Michigan Central and Grand Trunk, was done for Walkerton and the southwest part
of the county by the building of what has long been known as the Lake Erie & Western railroad,
connecting Laporte and Michigan City with Indianapolis; and also the Baltimore & Ohio road, connecting
Washington City, Baltimore and other eastern points with the city of Chicago.
An enterprise of the greatest value to the people of the county was the extension in 1884 and 1885, of the
Vandalia railroads systems from Logansport, by way of Lake Maxinkuckee, Plymouth and Lakeville, to
South Bend. This road brought us into direct connection with Terre Haute, Evansville, St. Louis and
the Indiana coal region. It was a most desirable acquisition, and came to us with the good will of
all the people but without special effort on the part of any one. The coming of the Vandalia is of
particular interest from the circumstances that it was the first distinctive indication that our
manufactures and other local interests had become an inducement for the outside world to seek our
market. We had no longer any need ourselves to seek connections with the trade centers and great
thoroughfares of the country. Henceforth they were to seek us rather than wait for us to seek them.
A like acquisition was the voluntary coming to South Bend, by way of Walkerton and North Liberty of the
Three I railroad, or, as it is often called, the Chicago belt line. This road gives to our manufacture and merchants direct connection with
practically every railroad entering Chicago. The Three I is distinctively a freight railroad, perhaps
the most successful of its kind in the country. It has since passed under control of the Lake Shore
railroad company, but still maintains its characteristic feature as a freight railroad; although its
passenger business is not neglected. The Three I and the Vandalia railroads have been of inestimable
local benefit to the people of St. Joseph county, by bringing the county seat and the other northern
towns into close connection with Lakeville, North Liberty, Walkerton and all the other southern parts
of the county. Literally, we are now closely drawn together by bands of steel; and this more intimate
union of all sections has made every inhabitant prouder of his citizenship of St. Joseph county.
Still another railroad, the northern line of the Wabash system, extends through the south part of the county,
passing through Wyatt, Lakeville and North Liberty, and giving direct connection with Toledo and
Cleveland on the east and with Chicago on the west.
The St. Joseph & Southern, now operated by the Michigan Central gives direct connection with the Michigan
fruit belt and the pleasure resorts at St. Joseph and other points on the southeastern shore of Lake
Michigan.
Another freight railroad is the New Jersey, Indiana & Illinois railroad, connecting with the Wabash near
Lakeville and extending into the factory district of South Bend.
The Studebaker and Oliver factories also own short freight lines connection with all lines entering South Bend.
These private lines are used for the purpose of facilitation shipments from the respective factories
to the great railroads.
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| Street Railways and Interurbans |
Sect. 1.—The South Bend City Railway.—As early as June 23. 1873, the “South Bend Street Railway Company”
was incorporated, the incorporators being John R. Foster, Joseph B. Arnold, Jr.,
Jacob Woolverton, Alexis Coquillard and Henry B. Hine. On September 18, 1880,
the first franchise was granted by the common council. Many subsequent ordinances
in modification of this original ordinance were passed by the city council. At
first, all motive power for the propulsion of cars except that of horses or mules
was prohibited. Afterwards, the prohibition was removed as to all power except
that of steam. A fear seems to have existed that the street railway companies
would run their cars by railroad locomotives. One ordinance expressly required
that only animal power should be employed, except that electricity might be used
on Michigan street. In 1882, under this permission, the use of the overhead or
trolley system was attempted,--for the first time, it is said, in the history of
street railways. The attempt as then made was unsuccessful; the cars could be
moved only for a part of a block, and would then come to a stop by failure of the
electric power. It seems that the electric fluid became dissipated in the earth
as fast as supplied from the power house. In time this defect was remedied, and
the trolley system took the place of animal power and also, in most instances, of
the cable and every other mode of propulsion; but the claim of South Bend to the
distinction of being the place where the use of electric power for street cars was
first attempted has not been questioned.
Sect. 2.—The South Bend and Mishawaka Railway.—Although the South Bend street
railway was almost a failure from the beginning, yet that did not seem to discourage the
projectors and others who were disposed to follow in their footsteps. Instinctively,
there seemed a conviction that street railways must ultimately become successful.
On December 11, 1882, a franchise was granted to the South Bend & Mishawaka street
railway company to construct a street railway between the two towns, then a distance
of about four miles apart. As the greater part of this distance was without was
without the limits of both towns, it was necessary for the company to obtain a
franchise from the county commissions to use the public highway. This was granted
by the board. Soon after the building of this line was some dissatisfaction shown
by the public by reason of the obstruction to travel caused by the manner in which
the company had exercised its franchise. This dissatisfaction finally resulted in an
action in the circuit court, brought by the county commissioners to compel the company
to comply with the terms of its contract. The suit was decided in the circuit court
against the company commissioners; but that body at once appealed to the supreme court
and secured a reversal of the decision, finally compelling the company to take up a
large part of the track and re-lay it in compliance with the terms of its franchise.
Notwithstanding these and other reverses, the Mishawaka line seems to have worked at a
profit; and when the South Bend city railway and the South Bend & Mishawaka street
railway become the property of a single company, it was the Mishawaka line that sustained
the life of the double enterprise until the time came when a new corporation, with
abundant capital, became the owner of all the lines under all the chapters, and at once
and for the first time made the street railway business in St. Joseph county a complete
successful enterprise.
Sec. 3.—The Indiana Railway.—In 1899 the Indiana railway company was organized
with Arthur Kennedy as president and J. McM. Smith as vice-president and general manager.
This company at once became the owner of the South Bend street railway, the South Bend &
Mishawaka line, the Elkhart street railway and the Goshen railway line. The construction
of the South Bend, Mishawaka, Elkhart & Goshen interurban railway thereafter followed,
and very soon proved to be one of the most excellent interurban lines in the state. Power
houses were erected at South Bend and Osceola, in St. Joseph county, and at Dunlaps, in
Elkhart county. Springbrook park, on the St. Joseph river between South Bend and Mishawaka,
which had acquired some reputation as a pleasure resort in connection with the old South
Bend & Mishawaka line, was now greatly improved and speedily became one of the most frequented
places of amusement in northern Indiana. For the first time the people of South Bend, Mishawaka
and the surrounding country learned what it was to have a first class street railway and
interurban system.
But the Indiana railway company was evidently ambitious of still greater things.
Franchises were procured to extend the lines to Laporte and Michigan City, and the lines
at Michigan City and Laporte were purchased. The company also lent its aid to the
formation of another interurban company which should build by the way of Niles to the
city of St. Joseph on Lake Michigan. The new company, known as the South Bend & Southern
railway company, received a franchise from the city of South Bend on July 28, 1902; and
in an incredible short time the interurban from South Bend by way of Niles and Berrien
Springs to St. Joseph was in full operation.
Sec. 4.—The Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana Railway.—In the midst of its
great enterprises the Northern Indiana became aware that it had undertaken too much, even
for its great enterprise and generous treasury. It is to the credit of the stockholders
and managers of the company that they discovered their limitations in time. In 1906, a
sale of all the Indiana railway property was made to a powerful street railway syndicate,
represented locally by those worthy and successful business men, James Murdock and his
sons Charles Murdock and Samuel T. Murdock, of Lafayette, Indiana. These gentlemen were
already large traction owners in all the street railway and interurban going out in every
direction from Indianapolis. They had the experience, ability and wealth needed to make
South Bend a second traction center, little if at all inferior to that at Indianapolis.
The new company, known as the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana railway company,
already shows a purpose to accomplish this end. Preparations are under way to reach
Winona and Logansport on the south and thus connect with the Indianapolis system. Still
more definitely is the purpose shown to exercise the franchise for completing the lines
to Laporte and Michigan City, and from these points ultimately to Chicago. For western
St. Joseph county, New Carlisle and all the surrounding territory this interurban extension
will be a great blessing, giving the people ready access to South Bend as well as to other
east and west centers of trade and population, and thus bringing the eastern and western
parts of our county into closer union.
Sec. 5.—The Southern Michigan Railway.—The South Bend & Southern Michigan
interurban, connecting with St. Mary’s Bertrand, Niles, Berrien Springs, St. Joseph and
Lake Michigan, and known as the Southern Michigan railway company, has already become a
popular and profitable line. The Michigan fruit bent, the fine scenery along the lower
St. Joseph and the many beautiful pleasure resorts on Lake Michigan, are thus brought to
our door. A casual view into the future brings us in sight of Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and
all southwestern Michigan.
Sec. 6—The Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend Line.—Many other interurban lines
are in contemplation by enterprising business men who see the bright future that is
certainly awaiting the development of South Bend, Mishawaka and all the St. Joseph
valley. One of these lines, at first called the Chicago & Indiana Air Line, but since
named the Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend railway, received a franchise from the
city of South Bend, and also from the board of county commissioners of St. Joseph
county, in 1903, and has already built many miles of its line between South Bend
and Chicago. This line, when completed, is to be one of the great interurbans of
the country, connecting Buffalo, by way of Cleveland, Toledo and South Bend,
with Chicago.
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| Telegraphs and Telephones |
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Sec. 1—The Western Union.—The first movement for the erection of a
telegraph line through northern Indiana were made in 1847. There was an effort at that
time to construct a line of telegraph from Buffalo to Milwaukee. The feasibility and
advantage of the telegraph were not then generally appreciated and moneyed men were
slow to invest in the enterprise. The appeal was therefore rather made to the
enterprise of the people generally than to the cupidity of investors. South Bend was
asked to furnish two housand dollars towards the building of the line, and to the
credit of the enterprising citizens of that day be it said that the money was at once
subscribed. But subscriptions were not so readily made along the line. Chicago, strange
to say, refused to give any aid to the enterprise, and the promoters were forced to
abandon the project for the time.
After a while, however, the people began to realize that the telegraph was to prove
a success, and the necessary means to build the line were forthcoming. Early in the year
1848 the line was completed, and the people of St. Joseph county were among the first
to be in instantaneous communication with the whole country.
Sec. 2.—The Postal.—The telegraph was not a great convenience for people who
made use of it, but was a source of wealth for its owners. Many new companies were
therefore formed from time to time, and sought to partake of the profits that resulted
from that business. In 1880, the American Union Telegraph company was granted a franchise;
and in 1881 the same favor was extended to the Mutual Union Telegraph company. On
December 11, 1882, the Postal Telegraph company was authorized to erect its poles and
wires in the city of South Bend. The Postal and the Western Union have both become great
and successful through lines of communication to all parts of the world.
Sec. 3.—The Central Union.—After the telegraph came the telephone; men were enabled
instantaneously not only to write afar off, but also to talk afar off. In March, 1880,
the South Bend Telephone exchange was authorized to erect poles and wires; and almost
immediately thereafter the lines were extended to Mishawaka and other points, until every
town and hundreds of farm houses were in communication with every other place in the
county and in surrounding counties.
In 1889 the Central Union telephone company was authorized to do business; and in
1893 the American Telegraph and Telephone, or Long Distance, company extended its poles
through the county, on the line from New York to Chicago. Other telephone companies came
into the county from time to time, and, for different reasons, failed to maintain their
organizations.
Sec. 4.—The Home.--In December, 1901, however, the Home telephone company received
a franchise and began at once to grow into a strong and well conducted establishment,
with telephonic connections throughout the state and adjacent territory. The Central
Union and the Home telephone companies, with their long distance connections, give to
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Water Power
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Water Power on the St. Joseph. The first dam across the river was built by the St. Joseph Iron Company
at the Mishawaka rapids, where has since grown up the beautiful city of that name.
By an act approved January 22, 1835, Alanson M. Hurd, John J. Deming and John H. Orr
and their associates were “constituted a body corporate and politic, by the name and
style of the President, Directors and Company of the St. Joseph Iron Works”; and,
amongst other powers, were given the right “to erect a dam across the river St. Joseph
at the head of the Mishawaka rapids, in the township of Penn and County of St. Joseph.”
Provision was made in the act for a lock and “the passage of steamboats and other water
craft used on said river”; also for rafts to come down the river, and for the free passage
of fish up and down. The act was slightly amended by the act of February 1, 1836; and the
name of the corporation was at the same time changed to the St. Joseph Iron Company. The
construction of this dm, while an obstruction to river commerce, was nevertheless by
reason of its use of the water power of the St. Joseph, the foundation of the prosperous
city which has grown up on both sides of the river at that point.
It was in the same year, 1835, that Joseph Fellows, Garrett V. Denniston and others, all from the state of New York, purchased
from Alexis Coquillard the water power and rights at South Bend. Early the next year, by
an act approved February 6, 1836, they likewise procured a charter to build a dam across
the river “at the head of the rapids, at or near the town of South Bend.” The conditions
as to river traffic, the passage of fish and other matters were similar to those for the
dam at Mishawaka. This act also was amended in some matters by an act approved January 16, 1837.
The Denniston & Fellows Company does not seem to have been so well managed; and, in any event, was not so successful, as the
St. Joseph Iron Company. They made some progress in the work of constructing the dam and
in digging a mill race; but, in 1837, by reason of a panic of that year, or for other
causes, they were compelled to cease operations altogether. Later, Mr. Coquillard
recovered the property through the courts.
By an act approved December 28, 1842, Abraham R. Harper, William H. Patterson and Lathrop M. Taylor, were incorporated as the
South Bend Manufacturing Company, and authorized to complete the dam at South Bend. This
company became the owner of one-half the water power of the river at that point. Work on
the dam was again taken up in 1843, and the construction completed the next year, with
mill races on each side of the river. The one-half of the water power attached to the
east side of the river passed at first to Samuel L. Cottrell, and from him, in 1867, to
the South Bend Hydraulic Company. We have already referred to an interesting suit tried
in our circuit court, in the summer of 1889, for the division of the water power among
the owners on each side of the river, and which two eminent judges of the state supreme
court took part.
The ownership on the east side has since remained unchanged; except that the Hydraulic Company has made deeds of conveyance of
certain amounts of water to the several mill owners along the race. In 1903 the ownership
of the stock, property and rights of the South Bend Manufacturing Company on the west race,
except certain shares retained by the city of South Bend, passed by purchased to the Oliver
Chilled Plow Company. This resulted in a great transformation. An electric power plant was
constructed on the west race, capable of using for the production of electricity the full
one-half of the water power of the St. Joseph river. The plant is one of the best in the
country, and supplies electricity for light, heat and power to the opera house, hotel,
factories and other Oliver properties.
Previous to this time a company of eastern capitalist had been formed to construct a damn and electric power plant at a point
above the city of Mishawaka, known as Hen Island. This great plant is used in connection
with another at Buchanan, in Michigan, and with a stream power plant on the east side of
the river, at South Bend, for the generation of electricity in vast quantities, which is
used for lighting the cities and towns on the river and furnishing them heat and power.
In the beginning, the water power generated by the dams at Mishawaka and South Bend was used to run the saw mills, flouring mills
and early manufacturing establishments in those towns. As soon, however, as any line of
manufacturing greatly increased its output, the deficiency and uncertainty of water power,
particularly after long summer droughts, became manifested. In addition, the space on the
river became confined for large concerns. Accordingly, the heavier businesses, from time
to time, was removed to more roomy quarters, often at a long distance from the river. The
result is that the great Studebaker, Oliver, Birdsell, South Bend Chilled Plow and Singer
Works, at South Bend, and the mammoth Dodge factory and others at Mishawaka, together with
many of lesser proportions in both cities, whether originally located along the mill race
or not, are now run with steady and unlimited steam or electricity, instead of water power.
Generation of Electric Power. Yet, even now, there is, in another sense, a return to the river. At several places on the St. Joseph,
as already stated, the great power of he river has invited the building of dams for the
production of electricity, to be used not only for light and heat, but also for motive
power; and it would seem that the water power of he St. Joseph, through the generation
of this mysterious fluid, with its tremendous force, is destined to make this valley
forever a center of manufacturing activity, from the mouth of the river far up beyond
the confines of St. Joseph county. Through this electrical energy there is, then, a
return to the water power which first attracted the attention of millers and manufacturers.
More permanent that the famed natural gas of central Indiana, this electric force,
generated by the broad and rapid St. Joseph, will light and heat our houses and offices,
our stores and factories; will propel our street and interurban cars, and run our endless
varieties of machinery. The river first gave our manufactures and other industries; and
the same river, in this half spiritual form, will retain for us those factories and
industries, and will add a thousand fold to their growth, usefulness and beauty.
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Navigation of the St. Joseph River
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Steamboats Although congress could not be induced to act, the people continued to consider the navigation of the river [St. Joseph] as all
important to the development of the country. In [a] copy [January 25, 1832] of the Pioneer
[The North-Western Pioneer and St. Joseph’s Intelligencer, South Bends first newspaper] in
which are contained reports of meetings held at different points to urge favorable action by
congress, we find the following editorial paragraphs:
“It seems that our anticipation in regard to steamboating on the St. Joseph are to be realized sooner than we expected.
We have received information from a source which can be relied on that there is now a
steamboat building at Erie, Pennsylvania, for this river. It will be completed by the
time navigation opens. It is needless to say that we are highly pleased with the
enterprise. Alive to everything that will have a tendency to advance the prosperity of
this country, we shall hail the appearance of this boat as a new era in its improvement”
And also the following:
“By an advertisement in the Detroit Journal, we perceive that there is a company formed for the purpose of building a steamboat, of
the first class, expressly for the commerce on Lake Michigan. We hope that the stockholders
may reap a rich harvest for their enterprise. From the rapid increase of business on this
lake there can be no doubt that there will be employment for at least one boat, in addition
to the schooners already in the trade. If the increase at any other point bears any proportion
to that of the St. Joseph, we would think that still more employment could be given. From
experiments lately by merchants of St. Louis, we are constrained to believe that in future
merchandise intended for Illinois and Missouri will be shipped via the great inland seas to
Chicago, and thence wagoned to the falls of the Illinois river, it being navigable for small
steamboats from that point to the Mississippi.
“There is another fact that will have a powerful influence and give a new impulse to the commerce on the lakes; it is that all the merchandise
for consumption in what is called the Wabash country, in this state, must and will be
shipped by way of the lakes and the St. Joseph river, and then wagoned on the Michigan
road, and distance of only sixty-six miles, to the Wabash river. We have ventured the
assertion that it can be done fifty per cent lower that by the present uncertain mode,
and still believe that we are correct.”
In an editorial in the Pioneer for April 25, 1832, this enthusiastic paragraph appears:
“Steamboat coming! We understand by a gentleman from Detroit, that it is supposed the steamboat built at Erie, Pennsylvania, for the St. Joseph
river will be here about the first of June. Information from another source says, that
Mr. Bysel, of White Pigeon, has made arrangements to bring an engine around as soon as
possible for a boat to be built somewhere on the river. We shall then have two boats,
success to them! Hope they will have plenty of freight and passengers. How we should
like to hear a high steamer blow its long black nose, and to see it impelled with an
almost incredible velocity against the strong current of the majestic St. Joseph! It
would remind us to the din, the bustle and the business so common to the principal
towns on the Ohio, by more particularly to the Tyre of the West. (Cincinnati)”
Again on May 9, the editor cries out in gladness:
“It is no longer doubtful concerning the steamboat for this river. It is reduced to a certainty. We have received a letter from John F. Wright,
Esqr., of Buffalo, stating that he has a boat now nearly complete, built expressly for
this trade, and which will be here about the first of June.”
And on July 4, 1832, we have these cheerful items:
“Arrived, July 1,--Keel boat Fair Play, Capt. Cratee; from Newburyport, cargo for H. Chapin, in this place. Departure, July 2.—Keel boat Fair
Play, Capt. Cratee, for Newburyport.”
But on August the first, this agueish note was sounded:
“The steamboat Newburyport, built expressly for the St. Joseph river, ascended within ten miles of Niles, when meeting a detachment of troops,
it took them on board and proceeded to Chicago.—She may be expected here n a few days.”
Read between the lines, this announcement was evidently a premonition of disappointment; and it was justified by the event. The Newburyport did
not return “in a few days.” The difficulties of navigation were evidently too great
for the successful running of a steamer of even moderate size.
The anticipation of the people of “The St. Joseph country,” both in the state of Indiana and in the territory of Michigan, were exceedingly
bright,—but the sequel is soon told. Congress at first took some little halfhearted
interest in the navigation of the noble river, and then quietly dropped the matter.
Nature, the bridges, the mill dams, and finally the railroads, did the rest.
There was for a time, however, and of necessity, some navigation of the river. Produce must be shipped in and taken out, either by the river or
on wagons; and keel boats and steamers of light draft continued to go up the stream
as high as Three Rivers. Even persons of the present generation remember steamboats
coming up as for as South Bend, before the building of the dams at Niles and Buchanan.
Pleasure boats even now run from the lake as far as Berrien Springs; and in recent years
the late John C. Knoblock had one between South Bend and Mishawaka; while even now the
redoubtable George Wellington Streeter runs his boat within the same limits. But commerce,
it must be confessed, has departed from the ST. Joseph forever.
In 1830, two men named Masters and Tipsorf made several trips from the lake as far as South Bend and Mishawaka. In the spring of 1831, Peter
Johnson built the first regular keel boat for general freighting on the St, Joseph.
Madore Cratee was her captain; and we have in the “Pioneer” (then called the “Beacon”)
for July 4, 1832, the announcement of the arrival and departure of Capt. Cratee in his
keel-boat. In 1833, the little steamer Matilda Barney and Davy Crockett made trips as
far up as Mishawaka. And from that time on until the coming of the railroads, river
vessels of various kinds piled up and down the St. Joseph.
Something of the character of this river commerce may be learned from a local correspondent, writing in 1847. He says:
“We have here a river coursing through two states, and passing through and in he vicinity of an agricultural body of land without a superior in
the west. For one hundred and seventy-five miles, by the river distance, namely from
Union City to St. Joseph, steamboats can navigate its waters, and have done so,—a
length of steamboat navigation greater even than that of the Hudson. Four steamboats
now ply upon it, and no one, we believe, has counted the numerous keel-boats and arks
which annually find busy employment in its commerce. In the spring and fall one can
hardly look upon this beautiful stream without seeing a boat of some character, deeply
laden, sailing towards its mouth. The manufactories of iron, wool, oil, leather and
other articles, which line its shores and the banks of its tributaries, and whose number
is every year increasing with fast accelerating rapidity, together with the eighty run
of stone for the grinding of flour, already at work or being put in operation the present
season, throw upon its waters an amount of exports which would surprise those who have
not closely scanned the statistics of this fertile valley.”
Finally, however, the railroads came, and the St. Joseph, at least above Berrien Springs, ceased to be used or considered as a navigable stream.
Below Berrien Springs, pleasure steamers of good size pass up and down by the beautiful
summer resorts found along the lower part of the river. Higher up, too, pleasure boats
occasionally ply between the many dams along the stream. But, as said by Judge Pettit,
in closing a special term of court in this county a few years ago, “While no doubt, the
St. Joseph was once a navigable stream; yet, as a mater of fact, it is no longer so.”
(Howard, History of St. Joseph County, 1907)
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Ferries and Bridges
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Ferries over the St. Joseph. In the beginning, shallow places in the river, or fords, were selected
for the purpose of crossing from one side to the other. The first settlers were often
thus required to ford the stream with their wagons, oxen, cows and other stock. Soon
after the starting of towns, however, it became necessary to cross the river at the
towns whether the water were deep or shallow. Before the building of bridges such
crossings were made by ferry boats plying from one bank to the other. These vessels
were generally flat boats, and simple in construction; on which teams, animals and
all kinds of goods, as well as persons, were taken over the river at fixed charges.
To protect the public as well as the ferryman, the county board granted special
licenses, without which no one was allowed to establish a regular ferry or make
charges for carrying goods or passengers from shore to shore.
The first ferry license on the St. Joseph river, as we have seen [below], was granted September 6, 1831, to
Nehemiah B. Griffith; who was authorized, on certain terms and conditions, to
establish a ferry over the river, on what is now La Salle avenue. This ferry was of
great advantage to the people having occasion to pass from one side of the river to
the other (There was a steamboat landing at the same place). Misunderstandings,
however, arose and complaints were made to the county commissioners as to the manner
in which the ferry was conducted. This resulted in some litigation, and the matter was
in an unsettled condition for a long time.
On January 7, 1835, Alexis Coquillard was granted a license to establish a ferry on what is now Colfax avenue. That the
business increased may be known from an order made by the board on March 3, 1835,
requiring Mr. Coquillard to add another boat to his ferry.
It is said that there was a ferry established across the river at Mishawaka in 1834, but there does not seem to be any record
of a license for such a ferry. There is no doubt, however, that a means of frequent
crossing of the river at that point was a necessity, although a regular licensed
ferry may not have been established. The people of that town, at a very early day,
had their minds upon a bridge over the river as being far preferable to a ferry.
On September 1, 1834, Elisha Egbert took out a license for a ferry, crossing the river at the town of Portage, north of South Bend.
Mr. Egbert was much interested in this town, whose success for a time seemed promising
but which has long ceased to exist.
The First Ferry and Steamboat Landing. “Order by the board aforesaid, that a ferry be established at the east end of
Water street [now La Salle avenue], in the town of South Bend, aver the St. Joseph
river, and that there be a tax assessed thereon to the amount of two dollars; and
that N. B. Griffith be licensed to keep the aforesaid ferry, and that the said
Griffith be required to keep a good and sufficient flat, or boat, to convey
conveniently over said river two horses and a wagon at one time.
“Order by the board aforesaid, that the following be the rates of ferriage at the ferry established at the town of South
Bend, to wit: For each person, 6 ¼ cents; for a man and a horse, 12 ½ cents; for
one horse and a wagon or carriage, 25 cents; for two horses and a wagon, 31 ¼ cents;
for each additional horse, with a wagon as above, 6 ¼ cents; for oxen in wagons the
same rate as horses; for loose cattle, three cents a head; for hogs and sheep, two
cents a head.
“Ordered by the board aforesaid, that the said N. B. Griffith be required to keep twelve hands to attend the aforesaid ferry.”
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Bridges and Roads
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Bridges Over the St. Joseph.Not only has Mishawaka the honor of building the first dam across the
St. Joseph river, but also of constructing the first bridge over the same
stream. Both were private enterprises; and both were undoubtedly due in
large measure to the enterprise of the principal founder of the city,
Alanson M. Hurd. This first bridge over the river was built in 1837, and
seems to have been a substantial structure. This may be inferred from the
accident that happened in 1847 to the stream boat Pilot by running against
the bridge. On May 3, 1847, the county auditor reported to the county
commissioners that the owners of the Pilot threatened suit for the loss
of their boat, claiming also that the bridge was an obstruction to navigation.
The only action taken by the board was to order surveys and estimates for
a new bridge, a “lattice” bridge, at Mishawaka.
No action looking towards building a bridge at South Bend seems to have been taken until 1844,
when Abram R. Harper, an enterprising merchant of the town was authorized by the
county board to take up subscriptions and erect a toll bridge over the river at
Washington street. The idea of a toll bridge does not seem to have been received
with favor by the people, and the project languished. In March, 1845, the county
undertook the support of the enterprise, on condition that eight hundred dollars
were secured by subscription. Mr. Harper was appointed superintendent. The bridge
was to be three hundred and fifty feet n length; and to extend from Washington
street, on the west, to Market street, now Colfax avenue, on the east side.
At the June term, 1847, Mr. Harper reported to the county board that he had advanced towards
the building of the Washington-Market street bridge five hundred and thirty-seven
dollars and fifty-four cents, and that there was yet due on subscription one
hundred and ninety-nine dollars and fifty cents. It was evident that the board
must now come to the rescue of this word, and an order was made that the road
tax for Portage township be turned over to the superintendent and the bridge completed.
At the same session of the board it appeared from the survey and estimates for the construction
of the Mishawaka bridge that its total cost would be five thousand dollars, and
hat said sum exceeded the amount of the ordinary road work and tax of the two
road districts in which the Bridge lay. An order was then made that the road tax
of all the districts to be benefited by the bridge should be applied to its
completion. This bridge was to be three hundred feet long and twenty-eight
feet in width.
Thus was the very important work of spanning the river with bridge at the two towns completed.
The days of the ferries were passed. The county, under statutory provisions, has
since taken charge of the building of all bridges over the river, as well as of
all other bridges in the county.
Soon after there was found need of an additional bridge in South Bend; and a covered wooden
bridge was built on Water street, now La Salle avenue, where the first ferry in
the town had been established. This covered wooden bridge is noted in or local
history by reason of the disaster occasioned to it by the only tornado that ever
visited this section of the country. It was about two o’clock on the afternoon
of August 9, 1865, that a black, angry-looking cloud was seen coming up the
Kankakee valley from the southwest. The cloud came on swiftly and threateningly;
dipped towards the earth as it reached the town; stripped the tin roof off the
courthouse, tearing the tin and rolling it up like bales of cloth; dipped still
lower and struck and tore down the east half of the Water street bridge; and then
scattered houses and barns as it rushed on to the southeast. The tornado does not
seem to have been near enough to the earth to have done any damage except as it
passed over the town. The commissioners, in restoring the bridge, wisely determined
to remove the roof from the whole of the bridge, being of opinion that the cumbrous
structure concentrated the full force of the tornado and thus caused the partial
destruction of the bridge.
Later a plain wooden bridge, a frail one it was considered, was built on Jefferson street; and
afterwards another, the Leeper bridge, on North Michigan street. Four miles north
of the Leeper bridge another was built, at Musquito Glen, near the old Sheffield
or Sider’s mill. Still other wooden bridges were erected from time to time, at
different places along the river.
Then came the era of iron bridges. The first of these was a kind of suspension, swinging or
chain bridge, built over the river on Water street, now La Salle avenue, in South
Bend. An unskillful workman one day drove a pin out of the unlucky east end of this
bridge, and let the whole structure into the river. A more substantial bridge, of
the truss pattern, was erected in its place. The truss bridge was n favor for a time.
One was built at Mishawaka, on Bridge street, in place of the old wooden one at that
point; another was built in 1881, on Jefferson street, South Bend, in place of the
feeble wooden structure that had too long done service in that place; Still another
took the place of the wooden Leeper bridge on Michigan street, South Bend.
But the iron in the truss bridges expanded in summer and contracted in winter, and it required
the constant care of experts to keep the bridge in safe condition. With the new
century came the conviction that some more safe and durable form of bridge must
be adopted. The first effort in this direction resulted in the Sample street bridge
in South Bend. The upper truss was abandoned, and a solid sub-structure support,
with iron girders, was substituted; giving a smooth, solid road bed, continuous
with the street on either side. A further step in the same direction was taken
in 1903, in the building of the Colfax avenue bridge, supported on great iron
girders resting upon piers. This, too, gives a street surface continuous with
the street at either side, a most desirable feature in all bridge construction.
It is to be regretted that the Colfax bridge has so heavy a grade from east to
west. It would seem to have been very easy to remedy this defect by beginning
the grade one square further east, making an easy ascent from Bridge street of
Michigan street; but, even as it is, this bridge is one of the finest public
improvements ever made in the county.
Finally public opinion was so distinctly expressed that the county commissioners took the ultimate
step in bridge making, and adopted the Melan, or concrete-arch system, the
arches re-enforced with ribs of steel buried in the concrete. This system
results, practically, in the spanning of our rivers with indestructible stone
arches, over which are built roadways and sidewalks absolutely similar to and
continuous with those of the thoroughfares upon which the bridges are erected.
The first of these bridges was built on Cedar street, Mishawaka, and son successful did the
experiment prove that the county board no longer hesitated. Three concrete arched
bridges were ordered,—one on Jefferson street, South Bend, thrown open to public
travel in 1905; one on Bridge street, Mishawaka, now (in 1907) approaching completion;
and one on La Salle street, South Bend, which will also be completed in November, 1907.
The Cedar street bridge, Mishawaka, and the Jefferson street bridge, South Bend, are
most beautiful as well as substantial structures. It is sometimes said that the Jefferson
street bridge is of unnecessary length; that one-half the east arch, being over solid
ground, might have been omitted and the space filled in with earth. It is claimed that,
besides the shortening of the bridge, and the consequent shortening and strengthening
of the arches, this would have straightened Emerick street and made the connection with
Jefferson street and the bridge more direct and convenient at that point. But the bridge,
as it is, is so noble a structure, broad and continuous as the fine street on which it is
built, that it seem ungracious to draw further attention to faults now apparent t every
one. Hindsight is easy to us all; foresight only to the child of genius. The vision of
the historian is, of course, but hindsight; and he must be pardoned for looking upon
things as they have been done and as he actually finds them.
Roads. The first roads, as we have seen, were Indian trails and traces,
running by the most convenient routes from point to point of importance throughout
the vast surrounding wilderness. Some of these connected such far distant points
and were of such convenience and even necessity for the use of the government as
will as for emigration and for the needs of primitive commerce, that they were
adopted and cared fro as national roads. Of such was the Great Sauk trail, stretching
from Canada and New York to the far northwest. This trail crossed the St. Joseph river
near Bertrand and passed over the northwest part of this county. Over this pathway had
gone the Sacs and Foxes and other Indians in their journeys to the east from Wisconsin
and other western countries; and by this traveled way had come the dreaded Iroquois in
their incursions from the far east. In peace, it was the pathway of the hunter and the
highway of commerce; in war, it was the road along which advanced in threatening array
the painted warriors of the forest and the prairies. As a national road the Great Sauk
trail became known as the Detroit and Chicago road, or simply the Chicago road, as it
is called to this day. This road would perhaps have made Bertrand a great city had not
the railroads passed through Niles and South Bend, and made of the great trail a common
country road, instead of the thoroughfare of commerce which it ad been for ages.
Another wilderness highway, connecting with the Great Sauk trail, extending thence east through
South Bend and Mishawaka and across northern Indiana, to Vistula, Ohio, has now long
been known as the Vistula road. This road and others of its kind, took in all along the
line other trails, traces and pathways, as the Dragoon trace and the Turkey Creek road,
leading off to Fort Wayne and other pints to the south and east. Such a highway as the
Vistula road, leading as it did through many counties, was of state importance, was laid
out by a special act of the legislature, and was therefore known as a state road, Sometimes
the statute so passed, as was the case with the Vistula road, failed to fix any width for
the highway, naming only the line of the road and leaving the width to be fixed by public
travel, to the subsequent inconvenience of the people and the annoyance of boards of
commissioners and often of the courts. The Vistula road as it extends through South Bend
is called Vistula avenue; while through Mishawaka it is known as Second street. Those who
desire to preserve historical associations have frequently urged upon the good people of
Mishawaka the propriety of continuing the name of Vistula through their beautiful city.
Still other highways were confined to the county itself, although generally connecting and forming
one with thoroughfares at the boundaries. Such highways were under the sole jurisdiction
of the county commissioners and known as county roads. A very large part of the time of
every session of the county board during the early period of the history of the county
was taken up with hearing petitions for these county roads, appointing viewers to lay
them out, hearing and approving the reports of the viewers and establishing the roads,
or in listening to remonstrances and appointing reviewers. In time, however, all the
necessary roads have been laid out, and it is not often now that petitions for new roads
are presented to the commissioners. The attention of the county board and of the township
road authorities is now, and has for years, been chiefly given to bridging, draining,
graveling and otherwise improving the highways already laid out. Plank roads were for a
time resorted to on some lines, as on the Michigan road between South Bend and Plymouth;
but these were all wisely abandoned and gravel roads substituted in their place.
It is said that the United States postal authorities in charge of the free delivery mail routes have
recently pronounced the highways of Indiana the best in the Union. This is a high
commendation for the public spirit of the Hoosier state; and it is to the honor of
St. Joseph county that nowhere in Indiana are the public highways and bridges kept
in better condition for public travel than within our own borders.
Although when first laid out and improved the various highways were for a time distinguished as
national, state, county and even township roads; yet now, and for a long time, all
roads are improved and cared for under the county and township road authorities,
and the laws in relation to highways apply uniformally to all public roads, no
matter by what authority they were originally established. We may note as a
peculiarity of our local highway system that the gravel road laws of the state
have never been applied to the improvement of the highways of this county. Good
road gravel is so abundant in almost every section of the county that the township
trustees and road supervisors have had no trouble in graveling the roads by using
the ordinary road labor and the township road fund for that purpose.
In Chapter Fifth, subdivision first, of this history, in connection with the first surveys of
the public lands, we have given some particulars concerning the early history of
the most important public highway of the county, and indeed of the state also, the
Michigan road. This was to Indiana what the Erie canal was to the state of New York,
what the Union Pacific was to the region beyond the Rocky mountains and what the old
Roman roads were to the several provinces into which they were extended. The moat
complete and detailed history of the Michigan road ever written was prepared by Miss
Ethel Montgomery, a graduate of Purdue university and now one of the corps of teachers
in the South Bend high school. Miss Montgomery’s paper was recently read by her before
the Northern Indiana Historical Society, and is to be published by the society as one
of its most valued documents.
The Michigan road may be considered as a national as well as a state road. In Chapter Fifth we
have seen that by the treaty of October 16, 1826, the United States secured from the
Pottawatomies the lands necessary for the construction of the road from Lake Michigan
to the Ohio river, the road to be one hundred feet in with, Both in the treaty, however,
and in the subsequent acts of congress in relation thereto, the Indiana legislature was
given the right to locate the road and to dispose of the lands and apply the proceeds
to its construction. Chief credit for the completion of the road through this county
and on to the terminus at Michigan City is due to the commissioner then in charge,
Judge William Poke, who was one of the most eminent of out public men in the early
history of Indiana. The road runs almost in a direct line from the crossing of the
Wabash at Logansport to the southern bend of the St. Joseph, passing through Plymouth,
Lakeville and South Bend, all then within the limits of St. Joseph county. From South
Bend the course turned to the west, so as to reach Michigan City by the most direct route.
Michigan street and Michigan avenue mark the course of the Michigan road through South Bend.
This section of the road was finished in 1834 and 1835; and its completion gave a wonderful
impetus to the settlement of this county as well as of all northern Indiana. (Howard,
History of St. Joseph County, 1907)
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City Improvements
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Streets and Sidewalks.The first systematic grades of the streets of South Bend were established on
surveys made in 1865, by Rufus Rose, city engineer. The grades so established are usually
referred to as the “Rose Grade.” The street improvements were of the streets to the grade
so established. Afterwards, the streets were graveled, there being an abundance of good
road gravel easy of access just northwest of the city. The next improvement made was to
pave the gutters on each side of the roadway with cobble stones, the stones being from
three to seven inches in diameter. These cobble stones were also used in paving the alley
crossings on the sidewalks; the remainder of the sidewalks being at first paved with boards
or planks, and afterwards with brick. The work to this point may be called primitive street
improvement.
The manner of doing this primitive work is well illustrated by the following ordinance for paving the
sidewalks on the north side of Washington street, along what is now the south front of Oliver hotel:
“Section 1. Be it ordained by the common council of the city of South Bend, That the sidewalks on the
north side of Washington street, between Main street and the first alley west, be graded to
the grade established by the city engineer, and that the same be paved with brick fourteen
feet wide.
“Section 2. Unless said sidewalk is graded and paved by each land owner in front of his property by the
tenth day of November, 1866, the street commissioner will immediately advertise the work to
be done by the best bidder by the twenty-fifth day of November, and the cost thereof will be
assessed upon the property in front of which the grading and paving is done, to be collected
according to law.
“Passed October 15, 1866.
“W. G. George, Mayor
“John Hagerty, City Clerk.”
The first steps towards the paving of the streets were taken in 1865, the year in which the city was
incorporated. On December 5, 1865, an ordinance was passed by the common council for the
paving with cobble stone of a part of Michigan street and a part of Washington street.
Section four of this ordinance reads as follows:
“Sec. 4. That Michigan street, from Market street [La Salle Avenue], to the south side of Washington street,
and Washington street to the west side of Main street, shall be graded as provided in the
first and second sections of this ordinance, and paved with small boulder stone of not
less than three not more than five inches in diameter. The center of the street when paved
to be one inch below the top of the curbstone. The gutter at the bottom, to be one foot
below the center of the street, and the street to have a regular curve from the bottom of
one gutter over to the other. The gutters to be shaped according to the direction of the
street commissioner.”
This cobble stone pavement was but little, if indeed it was any, improvement over the gravel street; but the
people endured it for over twenty years. They endured the cobble stone gutters and alley
crossings for even a longer time.
In 1888, a new departure was taken. The people determined to try cedar block pavement. On April 9, 1888, the
cobble stone laid down on Michigan and Washington streets was ordered replaced with cedar blocks. This pavement won many encomiums for two or three years; but, in the end, it proved even rougher than the cobble stone.
In 1889, a further advance was made. On July 22, 1889, an experiment in brick pavement was
determined upon. Jefferson street, from Michigan to Lafayette, was ordered paved with “two
courses of hard burned brick.” This was the first modern pavement laid on the streets of
South Bend. William M. Whitten, then the efficient city engineer, drew up the specification
with great care. The block from Main to Lafayette was an excellent pavement. The brick for
the experiment was ordinary building brick, made in the Leeper brick yard in South Bend.
This brick pavement was laid down by Martin Hoban, contractor, and remained in good condition
until its removal in 1907.
By an act approved March 8, 1889, the legislature provided for the payment of the cost of street and sewer
improvements in installments of ten per cent a year for ten years. This act, known as the
Barrett law, is one of the excellent series of laws enacted by the reform legislature of
1889 and 1891. The law has proved a boon to the cities and towns of Indiana. It came just
in time for South Bend. The brick pavement on Jefferson street was so decided a success that
the only question left for consideration was the matter of payment for the work. The city
was then up to the constitutional two per cent limit of indebtedness, and the treasury could
not be restored to in order to lighten the burden of the property owner. But by making the
payments in ten annual installments, as was done by the Barrett law, the problem was solved.
Street and sidewalk pavements, as well as sewers, were at once projected in every business
and populous residence section of the city.
In 1898, an asphalt pavement was laid down on Washington street, and two years afterwards one was laid on
Lafayette street, and since that time on several other streets. It was said at the time, and
has since proved to be true, that the asphalt on Washington street was too dry, had too large
a proportion of gravel, and that it would soon “grind out” in spots by the action of the wheels
of vehicles passing over it. The complaint on the part of the people on Lafayette street, on
the contrary, was that the pavement was too soft, that the wheels would sink into it in warm
weather. The Lafayette pavement has grown harder and better with years; but that on Washington
street has “ground out” in numerous places, as predicted.
Street paving has gone on in South Bend since 1889. Until at the end of the year 1906 there were forty-two
miles of pavement. Of this, about thirty-six and a half miles are of brick. The chief part of
the remainder is of asphalt; there being a little creosote block and other experimental pavements.
Originally the sidewalks, like the roadways of the streets, were principally of gravel; but plank and boards
were also used, and in time brick also. Early in the eighties, the common council prohibited
the putting down of any more wooden sidewalks; for the reason that so many accidents had
occurred from rotten and broken planks that there were almost constant suits for damages
against the city. As early as 1867, John R. Foster laid a cement sidewalk on the north side
of West Washington street at the corner of North Taylor street. This cement sidewalk is still
in good condition, notwithstand it age. Soon afterwards cement walks began to come into general
use; although for a while there was trouble with persons who clamed to have patents on the proper
mixing of the cement. This was but a temporary check, and it was not long until the cement sidewalk
was a favorite all over the city. Brick, however, continued to be used for walks until 1907, when
its further use for this purpose was forbidden, for reasons similar to those which had caused the
disuse of plank sidewalks. (Howard, History of St. Joseph County, 1907)
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Sewers. The first sewer in South Bend was constructed in 1861, long before the incorporation
of the city. After several preliminary steps were taken, the board of town trustees, on
December 24, 1860, entered into contract with William Mack to construct a circular brick
sewer on Washington street, four feet in diameter and twelve hundred feet long, extending
from the west line of Lafayette street to the river. It was to be finished by May 1, 1862,
the cost to be twelve hundred and forty-three dollars. But one fault has been found with
this first and most noted of our sewers. The sewer was not laid low enough. It was provided
that, at the commencement of the work, at Lafayette street, the bottom of the sewer, on the
inside, should be eight feet and a half below the street grade, and should fall at the rate
of three inches to each one hundred feet to the east line of Michigan street, after which
the rate of fall should be as required by the board of town trustees. This depth proved quite
insufficient to drain the basements of business houses afterwards constructed along Washington
street; and it was necessary to correct the defect by the construction of other sewers.
Under the city government all the principal streets have been supplied with sewers, and others are being constructed
every year, and paid for by property assessments under the Barrett law. At the close of the
year 1906, there were fifty-four miles of sewers in the city of South Bend.
One of the sewers of the city has a peculiar history. On October 8, 1875, the city provided for the
construction of what has been called Lafayette street sewer. This was built, primarily, for
the accommodation of the South Bend Iron Works, now known as the Oliver Chilled Plow Works,
which had then been recently located in the southwest part of the city, on the Kankakee side
of the “divide.” The sewer was paid for out of the city treasury; but the owners of lots along
Ford, Scott, Railroad, South and Lafayette streets, fronting on the sewer, were allowed to tap
the same by paying into the city treasury sixty-two and one-half cents per front foot. (Howard,
History of St. Joseph County, 1907)
Water Works. In Turner’s South Bend Directory for 1871-2, is the following, entitled, “Water—fire”:
“A company has recently been formed for the purpose of erecting Holly Water Works and furnishing the city with pure
water from the St. Joseph river. Action has, however, been deferred for the year 1871, it
being considered too late in the season to commence operations. Another year will, doubtless,
see this important work completed. A good system of water works would be highly advantageous
to South Bend, although we have at present an abundance of most excellent water for domestic
use, furnished by wells; while thirty public cisterns, entirely self-supporting, are distributed
throughout the city for fire purposes. These cisterns are six feet in diameter, with a minimum
depth of six feet of water. No steam fire engine can make any perceptible diminution in the depth.
These cisterns from an extraordinary means of protection against fires, and, in connection with
a well organized and efficient fire department, serve greatly to reduce the premium on insurance.
We have one first-class steam fire engine, which will soon be duplicated. Few cities have so
good protection against the ravages of fire as South Bend, and few during the past five years,
have suffered so little.”
The foregoing paragraph by Judge Turner shows the condition of the city in regards to the subject of
water works at the close of the year 1871. The people were becoming restless on the question
of adequate fire protection. The actual means then provided for this purpose are disclosed in
the statement quoted; while the proposed action to form a Holly Water Works Company shows that
the situation was not altogether satisfactory. The Holly system had very earnest advocates.
Indeed, the majority of the common council was at first in favor of the Holly system, to such
and extent that a contract was entered into for the erection of Holly Water Works. This system
provided for pumping water directly from the river into the mains and water pipes, as should be
required. Two other systems were talked of, the Reservoir and the Stand Pipe systems. It was
practically agreed by all parties that the reservoir system, that is, the drawing of water by
ipes from a large body of water located on a height above the city, would be most desirable,
provided we had such a high location, and the water upon it; but we had neither. The stand pipe
advocates said that next in excellence to the reservoir came the stand pipe, or water tower, as
Professor Wilcox preferred to call it; that when the stand pipe was pumped full of water the
pressure on the water mains throughout the city would be of that equable and uniform character
which marked the reservoir system. The Holly advocates replied that if it were necessary to pump
water into the stand pipe, why not pump it directly into the mains? The answer to this was that
an equable pressure was preferable, besides the stand pipe would be ready at the instant, while
the Holly engines might not be in order to do their work at the moment of danger. And so the
argument raged for two years.
The leader of the Holly advocates was William H. Beach, one of the proprietors of the first paper mill
established in South Bend. The leader for the stand pipe party was Leighton Pine, the superintendent
of the Singer Sewing Machine factory, then recently located in the city. Mr. Pine was one of the
most able, enterprising and public spirited citizens that ever resided in South Bend. The war
between him and Mr. Beach, for it was a war without quarter given of taken, was carried on in
the newspapers, on street corners, on the stages of the theaters, in meetings of citizens, and
in every other way in which public opinion could be influenced. Great meetings were held in the
court house. In one of these Mr. Pine had a small stand pipe erected upon the rostrum, with a
faucet at the bottom; and when the little stand pipe was filled with water, and the faucet turned
to represent the tapping of a water main for the fire hose, Mr. Pine triumph was complete. The
little jet of water flew up half way the height of the stand pipe; and the people left the court
room shouting for the stand pipe party. As may be imagined, political parties were rent asunder.
The elections were on the lines of Holly and stand pipe. The stand pipe won by a tremendous majority;
and, in 1871, William Miller was elected mayor, and a majority of the common council were with him
in favor of Mr. Pine’s plan. The new city government, backed by the great body of the people, were
not only in favor of the stand pipe, but also in favor of municipal ownership. They were resolved
that the city should build, own and operate its own water works. It was an era of conflagrations,
and the minds of the people were wrought up to a keen anxiety for protection against the dreaded
danger. The Chicago fire, the greatest in history, with its loss of two hundred millions of dollars,
had occurred on October 8 and 9, 1871. The Mishawaka fire, with its loss of two hundred thousand
dollars, as great as that of Chicago, in proportion to wealth and population, took place on
September 5, 1872, in the very heat of the South Bend agitation. And, soon after, on November 9, 1872,
Boston had its eighty million dollar fire.
The city authorities, however, were not hasty in action; and it was not until the summer of 1873 that
the first steps were taken. On July 7, 1873, a carefully prepared ordinance on the subject passed
the common council. The ordinance contained the following provisions:
That “William Miller (mayor), Joseph Worden, Peter Weber, Alexander Staples and S. R. King be and they
are hereby constituted a committee on behalf of the city of South Bend, and as such are hereby
authorized and empowered to enter into a contract on behalf of the city with suitable party or
parties for the erection and constriction for said city of a suitable and sufficient system of
water works, of what is called the stand pipe system, and as proposed and planned by John Birkinbine;
for the purpose of furnishing said city with a sufficient supply of water for fire purposes and
fire protection.”
This was followed up, on July 9, 1873, by an ordinance for the issue of water works bonds for on hundred
thousand dollars. On October 6, 1874, the issue so authorized was supplemented with an additional
amount for sixty-five thousands dollars. The great work was under way. The specifications, as
reported by John Birkinbine, the very competent engineer, provided for a wrought iron pipe five
feet in diameter and two hundred feet high. For the first twenty-one feet, the plates were to be
of seen-sixteenth inch iron; for the next twenty-seven feet, of three-eighth inch; for the next
thirty-six feet, five-sixteenth inch; for the next forty-eight feet, one-forth inch; and for the
last sixty-eight feet, three-sixteenth inch. The weight of the plates was forty-two thousands pounds.
The castings for the support of the pipe, themselves resting upon concrete foundations, weighted
twelve thousands one hundred and eighty pounds. The wrought iron bolts used to put the plates
together weighed two hundred and fifty pounds. On July 29, 1873, the committee determined to erect
the stand pipe at the crossing of “Pearl, Jefferson and Carroll streets.” The actual location was
ultimately fixed on the north side of Pearl, not far from the intersection of the first alley west
of Carroll street, nearly opposite the site of the fort erected in the Black Hawk war, in 1832,
where the pipe now stands. The excavation was thirty feet square and fourteen feet below the grade
of the street, and was filled with stone imbedded in cement and afterwards grouted, so that the
whole formed one solid mass of stone. The specifications further provided for an enclosure of brick,
two and a quarter feet from the pipe and rising to a height of one hundred and ninety-five feet from
the street. Between the pipe and the protecting wall was a winding stairway of two hundred and ninety
steps to the top. A pointed roof over all was to reach a distance of two hundred and twenty-one feet.
Separate contracts were let for the several parts of the work, all under supervision of John Birkinbine.
The greatest anxiety was as to the lifting of the stand pipe into position after the plates should
be riveted and water tight. This most responsible task was confided to Alexander Staples, then one
of the common council and a ember of the committee in charge of the water works; and well did he
perform the task assigned him. It was determined to raise the great pipe as one piece, rather than
in sections, which had been at one time contemplated. In September he began to get his huge gin poles
and other necessary apparatus in readiness. On November 11, 1873, the council appointed as special
peace officer, George V. Glover, Noah Huggins, William Overacker, Ananias Forst and O. C. Perry, who
were directed to obey strictly the orders of john Birkinbine and Alexander Staples, during the momentous
and exceedingly dangerous work of raising the stand pipe. This precaution was timely, both for the
protection of the people who should be gathered at the time and also for that of the great pipe itself.
The undertaking of lifting this mass of iron fro the ground to a perpendicular was the greatest
engineering feat ever attempted in this part of the country. A like attempt at Toledo resulted in the
falling and breaking of the stand pipe when it had been lifted half way up.
On Friday, November the fourteenth, the raising of the massive tube was begun and on that day the stand
pipe was elevated about twenty-two feet, on two capstans and with a force of twelve men. On Saturday,
the fifteenth, the work of lifting the great pipe was continued, in the presence of five thousand people.
Three capstans were used for raising the pipe, one for guiding it and one for pulling it forward. At
four o’clock in the afternoon it had reached an elevation of seventy degrees, at which it hung in the
air all that night. On Sunday morning the perilous task was resumed; but the pipe again hung in the air
over Sunday night. On Monday, November 17, 1873, at eleven o’clock, it was nearly plumb, and at half past
two o’clock on that day, the great iron tube stood in position, two hundred feet perpendicular from its
rocky base.
An impromptu meeting was at once organized. Mayor Miller mounted a capstan and congratulated the people
of the city. “Aleck” Staple, the hero of the occasion, was then called for, and fairly lifted and pushed
upon a capstan. His speech was characteristic: “Gentlemen, I can raise a stand pipe like this a great
deal easier than I can make a speech.” That was all, but it was cheered as loudly as if Edward Everett
had spoken.
Alexander Staples was a Union soldier, and his modesty after his great engineering feat was like that of
the true soldier on the field of battle who has won the day for his country. The Star Spangled Banner
did not seem too noble a model for the humble verse that sought to glorify his deed; and this was the
tribute that was then paid to him. Whatever of history or description may be found in the stanzas will
perhaps excuse its insertion in this place:
“The Star-seeking Stand Pipe.
Dedicated to Alexander Staples.
[All day Saturday the stand pipe rose slowly from the earth, until at dark it hung over the city like the
leaning tower of Pisa. During the night the wind blew pretty hard, and doubtless many an anxious eye
looked out on Sunday morning, to see that our pipe “was still there.” Certainly one pair of eyes did
so peep out; hence this travesty.]
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I
O say, can you see by the dawn’s early light
What we anxiously viewed at the twilight’s last
gleaming?
Whose huge bulk on gin poles, through the perilous
night,
O’er the house-tops beneath was so Pisa-like seeming;
And the lamp-light’s bright glare, the dark tube
in the air,
Gave proof through the night that our pipe was still
there;—
Oh, say, does that star-seeking stand pipe yet rise
O’er the city we love to its hoe in the skies?
II
On the bank, dimly seen through the mists of the
morn,
Where the ‘Bend’s busy host in sweet silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the tree-tops
forlorn
As it fitfully blows, half conceals half disclosed?
Now it catches the light, as the morning grows
bright;
In full glory enveloped, now shines on the hight:—
“Tis the star-seeking stand pipe! Oh, long may it
rise,
O’er the city we love to its home in the skies.
III
And where is that crowd who despondently said,
That the weight of the pipe and the ropes in
confusion
Would never allow it to rise from its bed?
There cheers have proclaimed that ‘twas but an
illusion:
No stand pipe so long but Aleck the strong,
With his tackle would lift with a cheer and a
song;
And the star-seeking monster in triumph should
rise,
Till he Staples the thing to its home in the skies.
IV
O there may it ever its blest waters send,
To save our loved homes from the flames without
pity;
While in harmony and peace our united South
Bend
Gives praise to the Power that has guarded our
city.
A brotherly band, our futures is grand,—
And this be our motto, United We Stand;
While the star-seeking stand pipe in glory shall
rise,
O’er the city we love to its hoe in the skies.
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On December 25, 1873, Christmas day, there was an interesting sequel the Holly-Stand-pipe
controversy. A wager had been laid between Leighton Pine, representing the stand pipe
forces and John M. Studebaker, who had favored the Holly system. The wager was for a
cow. Mr. Studebaker agreed to stand in the belfry over the Studebaker works; and
Mr. Pine proposed to drive him from the belfry with a one inch stream from a hydrant
near the works, while, at the same time, five other one inch streams should be thrown
from as many other hydrants in the vicinity. There were three judges, Edwin Nicar,
John C. Knoblock and Caleb Kimball, named to stand with Mr. Studebaker in the belfry,
where they could see the other fie streams and be able to decide on all questions
relating to the test. Schuyler Colfax also stood in the belfry with Mr. Studebaker.
Before those who stood in the belfry knew what had happened, the one inch stream from
the street below had driven them from their station, and the stream flew clear over
the top of the cupola. Mr. Studebaker gracefully turned the cow over to Mr. Pine. His
friends had her gaily decorated with ribbons, and so marched with a band and in carriages
to his residence. Two days afterwards Mr. Pine donated his prize to the Ladies’ Benevolent
Aid Society, by whom she was sold, and several times re-sold, for the benefit of the poor
of South Bend. So ended the famous controversy, in a triumphant victory for Leighton Pine
and those who had faith in his genius and leadership. The original cost of the water works
was about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Following the test made at the Studebaker works and the jollifications that succeeded, Mr. Colfax made one
of his happy little speeches, brimming over with interesting historical allusions.
“This magnificent Christmas day,” said he, “has opened a new era in the history of our busy and prosperous
city. Over thirty years ago, the building of the three-story Washington Block (On the
north side of Washington street, from Main street to the first alley east.) the largest
frame building at that time in northern Indiana, was commenced with a special celebration
and opened the first era of the advancement of our town. Next, the construction of the
dam, by the free and generous subscriptions of rich and poor alike, gave us our great
water power, and was another and most important forward movement. Then the great
manufactures, which have caused our city to be known throughout the length and breadth
of the land, gave us another impetus. While today, with the water works, which, from the
experiments this morning, seem sure to render efficient fire protection, we continue our
advancing progress among the cities of the state, and take another onward stride toward
the future before us.”
The city water works continued under the management of a committee of the common council, known as the
water board, until by an act approved March 25, 1879, the legislature provided for the
election of a board of three water works trustees, the first board to be selected by
the common council; after which the trustees should be elected by the people. The first
board so elected should be chosen one for one year, one for two years and one for three
years. At every subsequent annual election one trustee should be elected for three years.
By the special charter, the water works were placed in custody of the board of public works,
where they also remain under the municipal coke. Under all these boards,—the committee of
the common council, the trustees of the water works and the board of public works—the manner
of conducting the business has been practically the same. The immediate control of the works
has been in the hands of a superintendent selected by the board and under its direction.
The finances have been cared for by a water works clerk.
The names of all members of the board of public works have been given in the list of city officers. [For a list of the names of the
water works board see Howard, History of St. Joseph County, Indiana, 1907 in the South Bend Library]
At first, only the water of the St. Joseph river was pumped into the stand pipe. While this gave the people
fire protection, what they had looked for and also the use of water to sprinkle the streets
and lawns; yet they soon began to look for water for domestic use also. The first superintendent
of the water works, Everett L. Abbot, made a happy discovery just in time to meet this want.
He sank a driven well, about a hundred and ten feet deep, near the water works pumping station
and not far from the river bank. This was our first artesian well. The water rose to the surface,
and proved to be pure and wholesome. The question was whether wells enough could be sunk to supply
the stand pipe. To test the quantity of water that underlay the great bed of clay through which
the pipe had been driven, and particularly to se how far, if any, the flow of the first well would
be diminished by the sinking of another in the vicinity, well after well was sunk near the water
works station, until thirty-four six-inch wells or over have been sunk in that locality. The
problem was solved; reservoirs were constructed into which the waters from the artesian wells
flowed freely; the river water was turned off and the stand pipe and water mains were filled
with the purest water in the state. To supply more wells as the population of the city has
increased, a new station, at the foot of North Michigan street, was erected and new wells, to
the number of thirty-seven more were sunk. Still a third station has recently been secured
further down on the river; and form all of these it is believed that an ample supply of the
purest water for fire and domestic use can be obtained sufficient for a city of over one hundred
thousand population.
It need hardly be said that since the supply of artesian water has been obtained the people have asked for
water on almost every street of the city. Over eighty miles of water mains have been laid to
this date, and the demand is still for more. No tax is more freely paid by the people than the
water rents; and, while the original outlay by the city was large, yet the investment has been
a profitable one. During the year 1907, the substantial sum of twenty thousand dollars was
transferred from the water works rent fund to the general fund of the city treasury. At the
same time the people have had an abundant supply of pure water at most reasonable rates, with
no grasping water works company to cut down the supply or raise the charges. The municipal
ownership of the South Bend water works has been satisfactory from the beginning. The present
valuation of the works is nearly one million dollars; the annual income has now reached almost
one hundred thousand dollars. The expenses foot up about seventy thousand dollars, which includes
interest and wear and tear, leaving to the city a net profit of thirty thousand dollars a year.
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| City Improvements |
Streets and Sidewalks. The first systematic grades of the streets of South Bend
were established on surveys made in 1865, by Rufus Rose, city engineer. The grades so
established are usually referred to as the “Rose Grade.” The street improvements were
of the streets to the grade so established. Afterwards, the streets were graveled,
there being an abundance of good road gravel easy of access just northwest of the city.
The next improvement made was to pave the gutters on each side of the roadway with cobble
stones, the stones being from three to seven inches in diameter. These cobble stones were
also used in paving the alley crossings on the sidewalks; the remainder of the sidewalks
being at first paved with boards or planks, and afterwards with brick. The work to this
point may be called primitive street improvement.
The manner of doing this primitive work is well illustrated by the following ordinance for paving the
sidewalks on the north side of Washington street, along what is now the south front of Oliver hotel:
“Section 1. Be it ordained by the common council of the city of South Bend, That the sidewalks on the
north side of Washington street, between Main street and the first alley west, be graded
to the grade established by the city engineer, and that the same be paved with brick
fourteen feet wide.
“Section 2. Unless said sidewalk is graded and paved by each land owner in front of his property by
the tenth day of November, 1866, the street commissioner will immediately advertise the
work to be done by the best bidder by the twenty-fifth day of November, and the cost
thereof will be assessed upon the property in front of which the grading and paving is
done, to be collected according to law.
“Passed October 15, 1866.
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“John Hagerty, City Clerk.”
The first steps towards the paving of the streets were taken in 1865, the year in which the city was
incorporated. On December 5, 1865, an ordinance was passed by the common council for the
paving with cobble stone of a part of Michigan street and a part of Washington street.
Section four of this ordinance reads as follows:
“Sec. 4. That Michigan street, from Market street [La Salle Avenue], to the south side of Washington street,
and Washington street to the west side of Main street, shall be graded as provided in
the first and second sections of this ordinance, and paved with small boulder stone of
not less than three not more than five inches in diameter. The center of the street
when paved to be one inch below the top of the curbstone. The gutter at the bottom, to
be one foot below the center of the street, and the street to have a regular curve from
the bottom of one gutter over to the other. The gutters to be shaped according to the
direction of the street commissioner.”
This cobble stone pavement was but little, if indeed it was any, improvement over the gravel street; but the
people endured it for over twenty years. They endured the cobble stone gutters and alley
crossings for even a longer time.
In 1888, a new departure was taken. The people determined to try cedar block pavement. On April 9, 1888,
the cobble stone laid down on Michigan and Washington streets was ordered replaced with
cedar blocks. This pavement won many encomiums for two or three years; but, in the end,
it proved even rougher than the cobble stone.
In 1889, a further advance was made. On July 22, 1889, an experiment in brick pavement was determined upon.
Jefferson street, from Michigan to Lafayette, was ordered paved with “two courses of hard
burned brick.” This was the first modern pavement laid on the streets of South Bend.
William M. Whitten, then the efficient city engineer, drew up the specification with
great care. The block from Main to Lafayette was an excellent pavement. The brick for
the experiment was ordinary building brick, made in the Leeper brick yard in South Bend.
This brick pavement was laid down by Martin Hoban, contractor, and remained in good
condition until its removal in 1907.
By an act approved March 8, 1889, the legislature provided for the payment of the cost of street and sewer
improvements in installments of ten per cent a year for ten years. This act, known as the
Barrett law, is one of the excellent series of laws enacted by the reform legislature of
1889 and 1891. The law has proved a boon to the cities and towns of Indiana. It came just
in time for South Bend. The brick pavement on Jefferson street was so decided a success
that the only question left for consideration was the matter of payment for the work.
The city was then up to the constitutional two per cent limit of indebtedness, and the
treasury could not be restored to in order to lighten the burden of the property owner.
But by making the payments in ten annual installments, as was done by the Barrett law,
the problem was solved. Street and sidewalk pavements, as well as sewers, were at once
projected in every business and populous residence section of the city.
In 1898, an asphalt pavement was laid down on Washington street, and two years afterwards one was laid on
Lafayette street, and since that time on several other streets. It was said at the time,
and has since proved to be true, that the asphalt on Washington street was too dry, had
too large a proportion of gravel, and that it would soon “grind out” in spots by the action
of the wheels of vehicles passing over it. The complaint on the part of the people on
Lafayette street, on the contrary, was that the pavement was too soft, that the wheels
would sink into it in warm weather. The Lafayette pavement has grown harder and better
with years; but that on Washington street has “ground out” in numerous places, as predicted.
Street paving has gone on in South Bend since 1889. Until at the end of the year 1906 there
were forty-two miles of pavement. Of this, about thirty-six and a half miles are of brick.
The chief part of the remainder is of asphalt; there being a little creosote block and other
experimental pavements.
Originally the sidewalks, like the roadways of the streets, were principally of gravel; but plank and boards
were also used, and in time brick also. Early in the eighties, the common council prohibited
the putting down of any more wooden sidewalks; for the reason that so many accidents had
occurred from rotten and broken planks that there were almost constant suits for damages
against the city. As early as 1867, John R. Foster laid a cement sidewalk on the north side
of West Washington street at the corner of North Taylor street. This cement sidewalk is
still in good condition, notwithstand it age. Soon afterwards cement walks began to come
into general use; although for a while there was trouble with persons who clamed to have
patents on the proper mixing of the cement. This was but a temporary check, and it was not
long until the cement sidewalk was a favorite all over the city. Brick, however, continued
to be used for walks until 1907, when its further use for this purpose was forbidden, for
reasons similar to those which had caused the disuse of plank sidewalks. (Howard, History
of St. Joseph County, 1907)
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Sewers. The first sewer in South Bend was constructed in 1861, long before the
incorporation of the city. After several preliminary steps were taken, the board of town
trustees, on December 24, 1860, entered into contract with William Mack to construct a
circular brick sewer on Washington street, four feet in diameter and twelve hundred feet
long, extending from the west line of Lafayette street to the river. It was to be finished
by May 1, 1862, the cost to be twelve hundred and forty-three dollars. But one fault has
been found with this first and most noted of our sewers. The sewer was not laid low enough.
It was provided that, at the commencement of the work, at Lafayette street, the bottom of
the sewer, on the inside, should be eight feet and a half below the street grade, and should
fall at the rate of three inches to each one hundred feet to the east line of Michigan street,
after which the rate of fall should be as required by the board of town trustees. This depth
proved quite insufficient to drain the basements of business houses afterwards constructed
along Washington street; and it was necessary to correct the defect by the construction of
other sewers.
Under the city government all the principal streets have been supplied with sewers, and others are being
constructed every year, and paid for by property assessments under the Barrett law. At the
close of the year 1906, there were fifty-four miles of sewers in the city of South Bend.
One of the sewers of the city has a peculiar history. On October 8, 1875, the city provided for the
construction of what has been called Lafayette street sewer. This was built, primarily, for
the accommodation of the South Bend Iron Works, now known as the Oliver Chilled Plow Works,
which had then been recently located in the southwest part of the city, on the Kankakee side
of the “divide.” The sewer was paid for out of the city treasury; but the owners of lots along
Ford, Scott, Railroad, South and Lafayette streets, fronting on the sewer, were allowed to tap
the same by paying into the city treasury sixty-two and one-half cents per front foot.
(Howard, History of St. Joseph County, 1907)
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Water Works. In Turner’s South Bend Directory for 1871-2, is the following, entitled,
“Water—fire”:
“A company has recently been formed for the purpose of erecting Holly Water Works and furnishing the city
with pure water from the St. Joseph river. Action has, however, been deferred for the year 1871,
it being considered too late in the season to commence operations. Another year will, doubtless,
see this important work completed. A good system of water works would be highly advantageous to
South Bend, although we have at present an abundance of most excellent water for domestic use,
furnished by wells; while thirty public cisterns, entirely self-supporting, are distributed
throughout the city for fire purposes. These cisterns are six feet in diameter, with a minimum
depth of six feet of water. No steam fire engine can make any perceptible diminution in the depth.
These cisterns from an extraordinary means of protection against fires, and, in connection with a
well organized and efficient fire department, serve greatly to reduce the premium on insurance. We
have one first-class steam fire engine, which will soon be duplicated. Few cities have so good
protection against the ravages of fire as South Bend, and few during the past five years, have
suffered so little.”
The foregoing paragraph by Judge Turner shows the condition of the city in regards to the subject of water
works at the close of the year 1871. The people were becoming restless on the question of adequate
fire protection. The actual means then provided for this purpose are disclosed in the statement
quoted; while the proposed action to form a Holly Water Works Company shows that the situation
was not altogether satisfactory. The Holly system had very earnest advocates. Indeed, the majority
of the common council was at first in favor of the Holly system, to such and extent that a contract
was entered into for the erection of Holly Water Works. This system provided for pumping water
directly from the river into the mains and water pipes, as should be required. Two other systems
were talked of, the Reservoir and the Stand Pipe systems. It was practically agreed by all parties
that the reservoir system, that is, the drawing of water by pipes from a large body of water located
on a height above the city, would be most desirable, provided we had such a high location, and the
water upon it; but we had neither. The stand pipe advocates said that next in excellence to the
reservoir came the stand pipe, or water tower, as Professor Wilcox preferred to call it; that when
the stand pipe was pumped full of water the pressure on the water mains throughout the city would be
of that equable and uniform character which marked the reservoir system. The Holly advocates replied
that if it were necessary to pump water into the stand pipe, why not pump it directly into the mains?
The answer to this was that an equable pressure was preferable, besides the stand pipe would be ready
at the instant, while the Holly engines might not be in order to do their work at the moment of danger.
And so the argument raged for two years.
The leader of the Holly advocates was William H. Beach, one of the proprietors of the first paper mill established
in South Bend. The leader for the stand pipe party was Leighton Pine, the superintendent of the Singer
Sewing Machine factory, then recently located in the city. Mr. Pine was one of the most able,
enterprising and public spirited citizens that ever resided in South Bend. The war between him and
Mr. Beach, for it was a war without quarter given of taken, was carried on in the newspapers, on
street corners, on the stages of the theaters, in meetings of citizens, and in every other way in
which public opinion could be influenced. Great meetings were held in the court house. In one of
these Mr. Pine had a small stand pipe erected upon the rostrum, with a faucet at the bottom; and
when the little stand pipe was filled with water, and the faucet turned to represent the tapping
of a water main for the fire hose, Mr. Pine triumph was complete. The little jet of water flew up
half way the height of the stand pipe; and the people left the court room shouting for the stand
pipe party. As may be imagined, political parties were rent asunder. The elections were on the
lines of Holly and stand pipe. The stand pipe won by a tremendous majority; and, in 1871, William
Miller was elected mayor, and a majority of the common council were with him in favor of Mr. Pine’s
plan. The new city government, backed by the great body of the people, were not only in favor of
the stand pipe, but also in favor of municipal ownership. They were resolved that the city should
build, own and operate its own water works. It was an era of conflagrations, and the minds of the
people were wrought up to a keen anxiety for protection against the dreaded danger. The Chicago fire,
the greatest in history, with its loss of two hundred millions of dollars, had occurred on October
8 and 9, 1871. The Mishawaka fire, with its loss of two hundred thousand dollars, as great as that
of Chicago, in proportion to wealth and population, took place on September 5, 1872, in the very
heat of the South Bend agitation. And, soon after, on November 9, 1872, Boston had its eighty
million dollar fire.
The city authorities, however, were not hasty in action; and it was not until the summer of 1873 that the first steps
were taken. On July 7, 1873, a carefully prepared ordinance on the subject passed the common council.
The ordinance contained the following provisions:
That “William Miller (mayor), Joseph Worden, Peter Weber, Alexander Staples and S. R. King be and they are hereby
constituted a committee on behalf of the city of South Bend, and as such are hereby authorized and
empowered to enter into a contract on behalf of the city with suitable party or parties for the
erection and constriction for said city of a suitable and sufficient system of water works, of what
is called the stand pipe system, and as proposed and planned by John Birkinbine; for the purpose of
furnishing said city with a sufficient supply of water for fire purposes and fire protection.”
This was followed up, on July 9, 1873, by an ordinance for the issue of water works bonds for on hundred thousand dollars.
On October 6, 1874, the issue so authorized was supplemented with an additional amount for sixty-five
thousands dollars. The great work was under way. The specifications, as reported by John Birkinbine,
the very competent engineer, provided for a wrought iron pipe five feet in diameter and two hundred
feet high. For the first twenty-one feet, the plates were to be of seen-sixteenth inch iron; for the
next twenty-seven feet, of three-eighth inch; for the next thirty-six feet, five-sixteenth inch; for
the next forty-eight feet, one-forth inch; and for the last sixty-eight feet, three-sixteenth inch.
The weight of the plates was forty-two thousands pounds. The castings for the support of the pipe,
themselves resting upon concrete foundations, weighted twelve thousands one hundred and eighty pounds.
The wrought iron bolts used to put the plates together weighed two hundred and fifty pounds. On
July 29, 1873, the committee determined to erect the stand pipe at the crossing of “Pearl, Jefferson
and Carroll streets.” The actual location was ultimately fixed on the north side of Pearl, not far
from the intersection of the first alley west of Carroll street, nearly opposite the site of the
fort erected in the Black Hawk war, in 1832, where the pipe now stands. The excavation was thirty
feet square and fourteen feet below the grade of the street, and was filled with stone imbedded in
cement and afterwards grouted, so that the whole formed one solid mass of stone. The specifications
further provided for an enclosure of brick, two and a quarter feet from the pipe and rising to a
height of one hundred and ninety-five feet from the street. Between the pipe and the protecting
wall was a winding stairway of two hundred and ninety steps to the top. A pointed roof over all was
to reach a distance of two hundred and twenty-one feet.
Separate contracts were let for the several parts of the work, all under supervision of John Birkinbine. The greatest
anxiety was as to the lifting of the stand pipe into position after the plates should be riveted
and water tight. This most responsible task was confided to Alexander Staples, then one of the
common council and a ember of the committee in charge of the water works; and well did he perform
the task assigned him. It was determined to raise the great pipe as one piece, rather than in sections,
which had been at one time contemplated. In September he began to get his huge gin poles and other
necessary apparatus in readiness. On November 11, 1873, the council appointed as special peace officer,
George V. Glover, Noah Huggins, William Overacker, Ananias Forst and O. C. Perry, who were directed to
obey strictly the orders of john Birkinbine and Alexander Staples, during the momentous and exceedingly
dangerous work of raising the stand pipe. This precaution was timely, both for the protection of the
people who should be gathered at the time and also for that of the great pipe itself. The undertaking
of lifting this mass of iron fro the ground to a perpendicular was the greatest engineering feat ever
attempted in this part of the country. A like attempt at Toledo resulted in the falling and breaking
of the stand pipe when it had been lifted half way up.
On Friday, November the fourteenth, the raising of the massive tube was begun and on that day the stand pipe was elevated
about twenty-two feet, on two capstans and with a force of twelve men. On Saturday, the fifteenth,
the work of lifting the great pipe was continued, in the presence of five thousand people. Three
capstans were used for raising the pipe, one for guiding it and one for pulling it forward. At
four o’clock in the afternoon it had reached an elevation of seventy degrees, at which it hung
in the air all that night. On Sunday morning the perilous task was resumed; but the pipe again
hung in the air over Sunday night. On Monday, November 17, 1873, at eleven o’clock, it was nearly
plumb, and at half past two o’clock on that day, the great iron tube stood in position, two hundred
feet perpendicular from its rocky base.
An impromptu meeting was at once organized. Mayor Miller mounted a capstan and congratulated the people of the city.
“Aleck” Staple, the hero of the occasion, was then called for, and fairly lifted and pushed upon a
capstan. His speech was characteristic: “Gentlemen, I can raise a stand pipe like this a great deal
easier than I can make a speech.” That was all, but it was cheered as loudly as if Edward Everett
had spoken.
Alexander Staples was a Union soldier, and his modesty after his great engineering feat was like that of the true
soldier on the field of battle who has won the day for his country. The Star Spangled Banner did
not seem too noble a model for the humble verse that sought to glorify his deed; and this was the
tribute that was then paid to him. Whatever of history or description may be found in the stanzas
will perhaps excuse its insertion in this place:
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“The Star-seeking Stand Pipe. |
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Dedicated to Alexander Staples. |
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[All day Saturday the stand pipe rose slowly from the earth, until at dark it hung over
the city like the leaning tower of Pisa. During the night the wind blew pretty hard, and doubtless
many an anxious eye looked out on Sunday morning, to see that our pipe “was still there.” Certainly
one pair of eyes did so peep out; hence this travesty.]
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O say, can you see by the dawn’s early light |
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What we anxiously viewed at the twilight’s last |
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gleaming? |
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Whose huge bulk on gin poles, through the perilous |
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night, |
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O’er the house-tops beneath was so Pisa-like seeming; |
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And the lamp-light’s bright glare, the dark tube |
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in the air, |
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Gave proof through the night that our pipe was still |
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there;— |
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Oh, say, does that star-seeking stand pipe yet rise |
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O’er the city we love to its hoe in the skies? |
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On the bank, dimly seen through the mists of the |
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morn, |
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Where the ‘Bend’s busy host in sweet silence reposes, |
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What is that which the breeze, o’er the tree-tops |
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forlorn |
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As it fitfully blows, half conceals half disclosed? |
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Now it catches the light, as the morning grows |
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bright; |
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In full glory enveloped, now shines on the hight:—
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“Tis the star-seeking stand pipe! Oh, long may it |
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rise, |
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O’er the city we love to its home in the skies. |
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And where is that crowd who despondently said, |
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That the weight of the pipe and the ropes in |
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confusion |
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Would never allow it to rise from its bed? |
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There cheers have proclaimed that ‘twas but an |
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illusion: |
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No stand pipe so long but Aleck the strong, |
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With his tackle would lift with a cheer and a |
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song; |
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And the star-seeking monster in triumph should |
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rise, |
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Till he Staples the thing to its home in the skies. |
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O there may it ever its blest waters send, |
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To save our loved homes from the flames without |
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pity; |
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While in harmony and peace our united South |
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Bend |
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Gives praise to the Power that has guarded our |
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city. |
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A brotherly band, our futures is grand,— |
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And this be our motto, United We Stand; |
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While the star-seeking stand pipe in glory shall |
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rise |
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O’er the city we love to its hoe in the skies. |
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Oh, say, does that star-seeking stand pipe yet rise |
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On December 25, 1873, Christmas day, there was an interesting sequel the Holly-Stand-pipe controversy.
A wager had been laid between Leighton Pine, representing the stand pipe forces and
John M. Studebaker, who had favored the Holly system. The wager was for a cow.
Mr. Studebaker agreed to stand in the belfry over the Studebaker works; and Mr. Pine
proposed to drive him from the belfry with a one inch stream from a hydrant near the
works, while, at the same time, five other one inch streams should be thrown from as
many other hydrants in the vicinity. There were three judges, Edwin Nicar, John C.
Knoblock and Caleb Kimball, named to stand with Mr. Studebaker in the belfry, where
they could see the other fie streams and be able to decide on all questions relating
to the test. Schuyler Colfax also stood in the belfry with Mr. Studebaker. Before
those who stood in the belfry knew what had happened, the one inch stream from the
street below had driven them from their station, and the stream flew clear over the
top of the cupola. Mr. Studebaker gracefully turned the cow over to Mr. Pine. His
friends had her gaily decorated with ribbons, and so marched with a band and in
carriages to his residence. Two days afterwards Mr. Pine donated his prize to the
Ladies’ Benevolent Aid Society, by whom she was sold, and several times re-sold,
for the benefit of the poor of South Bend. So ended the famous controversy, in a
triumphant victory for Leighton Pine and those who had faith in his genius and
leadership. The original cost of the water works was about one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars.
Following the test made at the Studebaker works and the jollifications that succeeded,
Mr. Colfax made one of his happy little speeches, brimming over with interesting
historical allusions.
“This magnificent Christmas day,” said he, “has opened a new era in the history of our
busy and prosperous city. Over thirty years ago, the building of the three-story
Washington Block (On the north side of Washington street, from Main street to the
first alley east.) the largest frame building at that time in northern Indiana,
was commenced with a special celebration and opened the first era of the advancement
of our town. Next, the construction of the dam, by the free and generous subscriptions
of rich and poor alike, gave us our great water power, and was another and most
important forward movement. Then the great manufactures, which have caused our city to
be known throughout the length and breadth of the land, gave us another impetus. While
today, with the water works, which, from the experiments this morning, seem sure to
render efficient fire protection, we continue our advancing progress among the cities
of the state, and take another onward stride toward the future before us.”
The city water works continued under the management of a committee of the common council,
known as the water board, until by an act approved March 25, 1879, the legislature
provided for the election of a board of three water works trustees, the first board
to be selected by the common council; after which the trustees should be elected by
the people. The first board so elected should be chosen one for one year, one for two
years and one for three years. At every subsequent annual election one trustee should
be elected for three years.
By the special charter, the water works were placed in custody of the board of public works,
where they also remain under the municipal coke. Under all these boards,—the committee
of the common council, the trustees of the water works and the board of public works—the
manner of conducting the business has been practically the same. The immediate control
of the works has been in the hands of a superintendent selected by the board and under
its direction. The finances have been cared for by a water works clerk.
The names of all members of the board of public works have been given in the list of city
officers. [For a list of the names of the water works board see Howard, History of St.
Joseph County, Indiana, 1907 in the South Bend Library]
At first, only the water of the St. Joseph river was pumped into the stand pipe. While this gave the people fire protection, what
they had looked for and also the use of water to sprinkle the streets and lawns; yet
they soon began to look for water for domestic use also. The first superintendent of
the water works, Everett L. Abbot, made a happy discovery just in time to meet this
want. He sank a driven well, about a hundred and ten feet deep, near the water works
pumping station and not far from the river bank. This was our first artesian well.
The water rose to the surface, and proved to be pure and wholesome. The question was
whether wells enough could be sunk to supply the stand pipe. To test the quantity of
water that underlay the great bed of clay through which the pipe had been driven, and
particularly to se how far, if any, the flow of the first well would be diminished by
the sinking of another in the vicinity, well after well was sunk near the water works
station, until thirty-four six-inch wells or over have been sunk in that locality. The
problem was solved; reservoirs were constructed into which the waters from the artesian
wells flowed freely; the river water was turned off and the stand pipe and water mains
were filled with the purest water in the state. To supply more wells as the population
of the city has increased, a new station, at the foot of North Michigan street, was
erected and new wells, to the number of thirty-seven more were sunk. Still a third station
has recently been secured further down on the river; and form all of these it is believed
that an ample supply of the purest water for fire and domestic use can be obtained
sufficient for a city of over one hundred thousand population.
It need hardly be said that since the supply of artesian water has been obtained the people have
asked for water on almost every street of the city. Over eighty miles of water mains
have been laid to this date, and the demand is still for more. No tax is more freely
paid by the people than the water rents; and, while the original outlay by the city
was large, yet the investment has been a profitable one. During the year 1907, the
substantial sum of twenty thousand dollars was transferred from the water works rent
fund to the general fund of the city treasury. At the same time the people have had
an abundant supply of pure water at most reasonable rates, with no grasping water works
ompany to cut down the supply or raise the charges. The municipal ownership of the South
Bend water works has been satisfactory from the beginning. The present valuation of the
works is nearly one million dollars; the annual income has now reached almost one hundred
thousand dollars. The expenses foot up about seventy thousand dollars, which includes
interest and wear and tear, leaving to the city a net profit of thirty thousand dollars
a year.
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Go back to top
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| The County Buildings |
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On Tuesday, November 1, 1831, the board of county commissioners, then consisting of Aaron Stanton,
David Miller and Joseph Rohrer being in session at the house of Alexis Coquillard, on the
second day of the November term of the board for that year, took the first step for the
erection of buildings in which the business of the new county could more conveniently be
carried on. The order of the board made on that day in relation to the matter is as follows:
The First County Jail. “Ordered by required to sell out to the lowest bidder,
on the eighth of this month, at the hour of one o’clock on said day, the building of a county
jail, of the following dimension, to-wit: The jail to be thirty feet long and sixteen feet wide.
With a partition wall through the center of the building; all the timber of the walls to be of
good white oak timber, and to be hewed at least one foot square; as also both the under and
upper floor to be of like timber, of one foot square; the foundation of the building to be laid
one foot and a half below the surface of the ground, and to be raised six inches above the ground;
the sills to be fifteen inches wide, and the logs for the floor to be let in on the sills six
inches, and the logs to be rabbeted out that go on the top of the floor and let down over so as
to completely cover the ends of the logs and prevent the floor from being raised; the building
to be raised with a half dovetailed notch, in each of the corners as well as the partition wall;
the story to be eight feet between the under and the upper floor; the upper floor to be the ends
of the logs cut off about six inches at each end, and the under side of the ends to be cut out or
blocked off about four inches and let down on the logs, so as to prevent them form slipping out;
the plates to be rabbeted out over the ends of the floor logs and onto them; the roof to be put
on with good white oak rafters, covered with good sheathing and good joint pine shingles; the
gable ends to be done up with good poplar weather boarding; the corners of the building to be
raised up plumb, and the corners to be sawed down smooth; the outside door to be cut out one
foot from the partition wall, and to be two feet wide and four feet high in the clear when
finished. There shall be an iron rod run up through the ends, or at a foot from the ends, of
the logs on the sode pf the door opposite the partition wall of one inch bolt, and to extend
six inches into the log below those cut out, and six inches up into the log above those cut
out, and running through the same. The door shall be made of white oak plank of two inches
thick, and be made double with said planks; the door shall be hung on three strap hinges, the
straps to be three inches broad and half an inch thick; and the door shall also be lined with
iron straps, to be put within four inches of each other, and on each side of the door; and
said straps, as well as the hinges, shall all be riveted through the door within four inches
of each other; the straps, other than the hinges, shall be at least one-eighth of an inch
thick; the door to be hung on hooks to be in proportional size to the straps, and two of the
hooks to be set upwards and one turned downwards; the look of the door to be set in the inside
by the contractor; the lock to be furnished by the agent; the hooks on which the door is hung
to be entered into the timber well; and the cheeks of said door shall be lined with good white
oak plank, one and a half inch thick, to be well spiked on. There shall also be another door
made in the center of the partition wall, to be two feet wide and four feet high in the clear
of said door after being finished; the cheeks of said door shall be faced with good oak plank,
one and a half inch thick and well pinned on; the door shall be made of two inch white oak
plank; the door shall be hung on two straps hinges, to extend across the door and hang on two
sufficient hooks driven into the wall; the whole of the door to be driven with spikes within
four inches of each other; the contractor shall put the lock on furnished by the agent. There
shall be a window cut out in each end of the house, two feet wide and one foot high; and there
shall be bars of iron in each of said windows, of one and a quarter inch square, and shall be
placed up and down in the windows within two inches of each other, and the ends of said bars
shall be sunk in the lower and upper logs at least three inches.
“And the jail shall be put on the southwest corner of the public square in the town of South Bend,
and shall set lengthways north and south on the line of said lot, and the door shall be on the
east side of said house. The undertaker shall be required to give bond and security to be
approved of by the agent, in the penal sum of one thousand dollars. The contract to be completed
by the last Monday in April next ensuing the date hereof. The contractor will be entitled to
receive a county order on the county treasury as soon as the contract is completed for the
building of said jail. All the work to be done in a good, workmanlike and substantial manner.”
Such were the plans and specifications for the fail of St. Joseph county. As in many other cases,
since and before, the work does not seem to have been completed according to the plan, nor to
the satisfaction of the county commissioners. This will appear from the following record:
“The board of St. Joseph county commissioners met at the usual place of meeting on Saturday, the
28th day of April, 1832; in the town of South Bend; it being a special meeting of said board to
receive the jail built for the said county. Present, David Miller and Joseph Rohrer, Esqr.
“The commissioners, after a full examination of the said jail, are of opinion that it was not
finished according to contract; and by an agreement with the said Wood & McCormic [the contractors],
they took the said jail off of their hands.
“Ordered by the board aforesaid, that Andrew Woods be allowed the sum of two hundred and six
dollars and ninety cents, in full for his half in building a jail for said county, to be paid
out of the first money that may come into the treasury from any donations made the county for
the location of the county seat.
“Ordered by the board aforesaid, that Denis McCormic be allowed the sum of two hundred and six
dollars and ninety cents, out of the first moneys that may come into the county treasury from
any donations that have been made to said county for the location of its county seat, in full
for his half in building a jail for said county.”
On March 3, 1835, the board entered into contract with Peter Johnson to add a second story to the
jail for six hundred and twenty-five dollars. This time the work was done according to agreement
by one of the most competent and reliable of our early contractors. At the ensuing September term,
September 9, 1835, an order was made which has a strange sound at the present day. Orlando Hurd,
then one of the county commissioners, was “authorized and empowered to rent or let out the two
upper rooms attached to the jail of said county, for the purpose of having the jail and other
property belonging to said county guarded and taken care of.”
Perhaps this primitive wooden jail, its walls and floors of white oak timber, “hewn at least one
foot square,” held its inmates quite as securely as the steel cages of our modern structure, “the
best jail in the state,” held the incorrigibles of our day. If the officer then in charge was as
competent as his successor in charge to-day, we have little doubt that our first fail of whit oak
was amply sufficient for the purpose.
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| The First Court House |
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But the new county needed a court house nearly as much as it did a jail.
At the January term, 1832, the board of commissioners met as heretofore at the house of Alexis
Coquillard; but “it not being convenient for the said Coquillard to furnish them a room in his
house, by request of the said Coquillard the commissioners adjourned to the house of Calvin Lilly
in the town of South Bend, in a room provided for them at the request of the said Alexis Coquillard.”
The need of a permanent place to attend to the public business was thus forcibly brought to the
attention of the board, and on the third day of the session, Wednesday, January 4, 1832, the
following entry was made in the records of the board:
“The following is a statement of the court house to be built in St. Joseph county:
“The court house shall be forty feet square, and built of brick. The foundation
shall be made of good, durable arch brick and sunk one foot below the surface of ground. And
the said wall shall be raised three feet high above said foundation, shall be twenty-two inches
in thickness; and there shall also be a foundation wall run north and south through said building,
and raised so high that a sill of eighteen inches square, with the joist placed on said wall,
shall raise the floor of the first story only three feet from the foundation. The walls of the
first story of the building shall be raised so high as to leave twelve feet between the first
floor and the ceiling. The walls of the first story shall be laid eighteen inches thick. The
walls of the second story shall be raised ten feet above the second floor, and be made thirteen
inches thick. There shall be a plate of yellow poplar timber of thirteen inches square placed
on the top of the wall all around said building. There shall be four stacks of chimneys carried
up in said building, one in each corner of the house; and there shall be a fireplace in each
of said chimneys in the lower story, of three and one-half feet in the back and five feet in
the flare or front of the jambs, in the under room of each of said chimneys, except the
southeast chimney, which may be three feet in the back and four feet in the front. And there
shall be also a fireplace made in each of said chimneys in the second story of said building,
except the southeast; and said fireplace shall be three feet in the clear in the back, and
four feet in the flare or front of said fireplace. The east half of the under room shall be
filled up with earth nearly to top of the aforementioned sill, and then laid over with good
hard brick. There shall be substantial iron bars under the arch of each fireplace. And in
the north of said under room there shall be joists placed east and west across in said sill
and wall, and within two feet of each other, of good white oak timber; and they shall be
three inches thick and fourteen inches wide, and placed so as the floor when laid shall be
three feet from the foundation. The floor of said end shall be laid of white oak boards, of
one and one fourth inch thick and six inches wide. There shall be four air holes left in the
west side of said building, and two on the north and two on the south, of nine inches deep
and four inches wide, to let the air in under the floor. There shall be two columns set upon
said sill, running through the center of said building, one twelve feet from the north side
of said building and the other twelve feet from the south side. The said columns shall be
turned by a bilection, and with a handsome mold at each end of the same; and there shall be
a hole bored through the center of each of said columns with a common pump auger. There shall
be a poplar girder of fourteen inches square running across said building, north and south,
and placed on said columns; and the joist for the second floor shall be laid into said girder,
and on the walls, east and west. The said joists shall be three inches thick and fourteen
inches wide, and shall be placed in said girder within two feet of each other; and the floor
shall be made and laid on said joists, of poplar boards of one and one-fourth inch thick and
six inches wide. There shall be a door made on the east side, and in the center of the house,
of four feet wide, and shall have a transom light sash above the door, and to be made to
correspond with the height of the window; and also a door of the same description, to be
placed in the center of the north side of the building. The door shall be made of eight panels,
and lined and braced on the inside of the door. Said doors shall be three inches thick, and
hung on three butts sufficiently strong, and have each a good substantial thumb latch, and
each a twelve inch stock lock fixed thereon. There shall be three twenty-four light windows,
of glass ten by twelve, on the west side of the building, to be placed so in the wall of the
building as to have the columns between the windows on each side even; and also two windows
on the north side of said building, to be placed half way between the corners of the building
and the door; and also two windows in the east side of the house, to be placed in the center
of the wall between the ends of the house and door; and also two windows on the south side
of the building, to be placed in the wall so as the columns shall be of a width; the last
mentioned windows to be all of the same description as the first mentioned.
“In the second story, there shall be a row of studding running through the center of the
building, north and south, for a partition wall, made of white oak studs and placed within
eighteen inches of each other. And there shall be another partition wall running through east
and west on the west side of said building, eighteen feet from the south wall; and also there
shall be another partition wall of studding running through the eastern side of said building,
eighteen feet from the north wall, of studs of white oak as aforesaid, within eighteen inches
of each other.
“In the third story, there shall be two poplar or oak girders, running north and south across
said building, of ten by twelve inches square, and placed in the center of the building and
thirteen feet asunder, to start the cupola on; and there shall be joists framed into said
girders, within eighteen inches of each other, of three inches by six. The first story of
the steeple shall be five feet; the second story, of the octagonal part, with the ogee
formed dome, twelve feet, with eight Venetian shutters, six feet high. The third story,
or the spire and its pedestal, to be fifteen feet. There shall be a wooden ball overlaid
with gold leaf, placed on said spire at a proper place, that will measure two and one-half
feet in diameter; and there shall be also a wooden fish fixed near the top of said spire,
overlaid with gold leaf. There shall be a lightning rod fixed at or near the top of the
spire, and run down on the outside of the building to the ground, of three-fourth of on
inch diameter.
“The building shall be covered with a hip roof, drawn from each corner, and covered with good
joint pine shingles. There shall be a cornice put on each side of the building, of eighteen
inches wide, with a bed-mold thereon, and to have tin conductors fixed thereunto of three
inches diameter. The cornice is to be put up with good substantial screw bolts one-half
inch square, five to each cornice.
“There shall be three windows put in on the north side of said building, in the second story,
over the door and windows in the lower story; and on the west side of said building, two
windows, to be placed over the windows in the lower story nearest the corners of the
building; and on the south side of the building, two windows; and on the east side, three
windows to be placed parallel over the door and windows below; all of said windows to be
made of glass, ten by twelve inches, and to have each twenty-four lights of sash. The
frames are to have parting strips, and the sash to be made one and one-half inches thick,
and to be made with lock rails.
“There shall be a six panel door made and hung in each room in the second story, to be hung with
good butts, one pair to a door, and a good wrought thumb latch and stock lock for each.
There shall be an open newell staircase run up from the lower story to the second, with
banisters around the head of the staircase; likewise, there shall be a mill-step staircase
run up from the second story, up into cupola, at the head of which there is to be a trap door.
“All the aforesaid rooms and inside walls to be well lathed and plastered, except the brick,
which shall not be lathed, but plastered only, with two good coats of lime and sand.
“There shall be Venetian shutters made and hung to each of the windows in said building. The shutter
blinds shall be tenanted into the stiles, and hung on good strap hinges put on with screws;
and shutters holders shall be fixed into the walls to hold the shutters open, and iron bolts
for the same.
“The outside of the walls of said building shall be painted with good Venetian red paint,
and all pencilled off at each joint with white lead. The cornice shall be all painted with
three coats, with white lead and oil. The window shutters shall be painted green. The doors
shall all be painted with a mahogany color. The door frames shall be made the width of the
walls; and all the window and door frames shall be well painted with two coats of white lead
and oil; and the sash also. The glass are to be glazed in with good putty. The doors on the
inside are to be one and one-half inch thick.
“There shall be pieces of timber, of four inches square and four feet long, framed on the
ends of the principal girders and joists, for the better support of the walls, at suitable
distances from the corners. There shall be scuppers made around at the floor of the cupola,
to let the water, etc., out. The columns of the cupola to be dressed neatly, eight square.
A cornice underneath the dome to be finished in a neat and good manner.
“All of the aforesaid materials for said building to be of the best and most durable kind
that the country affords; and all and every part of said building to be done, finished and
completed in good style, and the best workmanlike and most substantial manner.
“N. B. The undertaker to furnish every material necessary for said building. There shall
be washboards placed around in all the aforesaid rooms, with a base member. And the walls of
the aforesaid building, and the roof, windows and doors, and otherwise, well closed on or before the first day of December next; and the remainder of said building shall be fully completed on or before the first of December, A. D. 1833.
“The contractor of said building will be paid the sum of five hundred dollars on the 15th of
May next; and the second payment on the first of December next, which, with the five hundred
dollars, shall amount to the third of the amount of the whole contract. The second third of
the amount of the contract will be paid when the building is finished, and the last payment
will be made May 20, 1834. The contractor shall be required to give bond and security under
the penalty of five thousand dollars for the performance of the contract.
“The county agent is directed to give notice in the Northwestern Pioneer that he will receive sealed
proposals at South Bend between the hours of ten and two o’clock on Monday, the 6th day of
February next, for to enter into contract for building of the said house, and that the
contractor name his securities in his proposals.”
As required by the foregoing order, there appeared in the Northwestern Pioneer and St. Joseph’s
Intelligencer, for Wednesday, January 11, 18 and 25, 1832, the following notice:
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“A Cash Job.
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“Court-House of St. Joseph County.
“Sealed proposals will be received on the 6th day of February next ensuing, at the house of Calvin Lilly, in
South Bend, between the hours of 10 o’clock A. M. and 2 o’clock P. M. for building a COURT
HOUSE in said county. The time of the payment, a description of the building, etc., may be
seen at any time, at the Clerk’s Office, by any person that may wish to see them. Security
will be required of the undertaker, for the faithful performance of the contract, and such
security must be named in the proposals.
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“JOHN EGBERT, Agent.
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“South Bend, Ind., Jan. 4, 1832.”
The board met on February 6, 1832, to receive bids on the court house, but found all proposals unsatisfactory;
and thereupon adjourned until the next morning, when the following record was made:
“Tuesday, February the 7th, the board met pursuant to adjournment. Present Aaron Stanton, David Miller and
Joseph Rohrer. And they enter into contract with Peter Johnson for building of a court house
and said county; which contract reads in the words and figures following, to-wit:
“‘Know all men by these presents, That we, Peter Johnson, Alexis Coquillard, L. M. Taylor, Pleasant Harris,
and Samuel Martin, all of the county of St. Joseph in the state of Indiana, are held and
firmly bound unto Aaron Stanton, David Miller and Joseph Rohrer, a board doing county
business in and for the county of St. Joseph, and their successors in office, in the penal
sum of six thousand dollars, lawful money of the United States, to the payment whereof well
and truly to be made, we hereby bind ourselves and our representatives firmly by these
presents. Sealed with our seals and dated this seventh day of February, A. D. 1832.
“‘The conditions of the above obligation is such that if the said Peter Johnson, the above bounden, shall well
and truly build a court house in and for said county of St. Joseph, of the following
description, to-wit:’”
Then follows a description of the building, slightly changed from that set out in the order of the board made
five weeks previously.
The court house was formally accepted from the contractors for partial use, at the September term, 1833; but
was not finally completed, accepted and paid for until the year 1837. In September of that
year a contract was entered into with William Keeley and Samuel C. Russ to build a clerk’s
recorder’s office, forty by twenty, by way of addition to the court house, which had by
that time proved to be too small for the business of the county.
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The Second County Jail
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The primitive log jail, completed in 1835, did not long satisfy the needs of the county. At the
September term, 1844, of the county commissioners, the board ordered a new jail built
of brick, in accordance with plans on file; and on December 4, 1844, the building of
the jail was let to Lot Day for eighteen hundred and fifty dollars. On December 4, 1845,
this jail was completed and accepted by the county commissioners.
These primitive county buildings, first undertaken in the early ‘30’s in the infancy and weak
financial condition of the county, were made to do service for nearly thirty years.
After 1850, however, when population and wealth had increased, when the railroad and
the telegraph were here, when “the St. Joseph county” had become a land of farms and
prosperous towns, when great cities were growing up to the west and the south, and
all this throbbing life of the strong young nation was coming nearer and nearer to us,
the people began to look upon the good old court house, “forty feet square, and built
of brick,” and even to the modest successor of the log jail, “thirty feet long and
sixteen feet wide,” its “walls of white oak timber, hewed one foot square,” as quite
out of keeping with the attainments and prospect of this splendid county of St. Joseph
and its enterprising citizens.
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| The Second Court House |
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At the March term, 1853, of the board of
county commissioners, then consisting of
Gilman Toole, Edwin Picket and John Druliner,
an advertisement for plans for a new court
house, with estimates of cost, was ordered
published, twenty-five dollars to be paid
for plan adopted. At the September term of
the same year, John Hammond having then
taken the place of Mr. Pickett on the board,
plans were adopted and the court house
ordered built. Separate contracts were let.
At the December term, 1853, the contract for
lumber was let to Henry and J. T. Johnson;
and for timber to William Crews. At the
March term, 1854, the contract for sash
and doors was let to J. M. Vanosdel. At
the same term the most important contract,
that for dressed stone, to be the “best
stone,” was let, through A. B. Ellsworth,
then county auditor, to the Illinois Stone
and Lime Company, for seven thousand six
hundred and eighty-five dollars and fifty
cents, to be paid in monthly estimates as
delivered, retaining fifteen per cent until
the completion of the contract. The stone
was to be delivered so that the water table
might be laid by May first, 1854; remainder
as needed, subject to acceptance of Vanosdel
& Olmstead, architects and superintendents.
At the September term, 1855, the various
offices in the new court house were assigned;
and it was ordered that the use of the
building should be confined to the “courts,
county offices and political meetings.” In
the early days, the court room was the only
public hall in the county; and of necessity
it was used for almost every kind of a
gathering of the people, public or private.
The time had come, in the opinion of the
county of the board, to restrict the use of the county building to its proper
purpose,—the only leniency granted being in favor of “political meetings”; this,
too, because of necessity. At the June term, 1860, the floor of the court room
was ordered “deadened,” and other changes made for the convenience of the court.
(In 1906, when the first story of this court house was prepared for use of the
Northern Indiana Historical Society, the lower set of joists used to “deadened”
the sounds below from reaching the court room were discovered and removed in
remodeling the room for the use of the Historical Society.)
The new court house was placed near the northeast corner of the public square,
facing east on Main street. The building was a most elegant and substantial on,
and was the pride of the people of the county. It was thus described in the St.
Joseph Valley Register, of April 27, 1854:
“In size the new court house is sixty-one and a half by ninety-one and a half
feet, including the portico: two stories high, the lower on twelve and one-half
in height clear of joists, and the upper one twenty feet, surmounted by a cupola
fifty high. The stone foundation extends thirty-three inches below the ground and
is carried above three feet. The lower story contains all the offices. Entering
by the portico, which is on the eastern front, and supported by six pillars, you
pass into a spacious hall, fourteen feet wide and eighty-one feet long, on each
side of which are situated the various offices. From the front of the hall, stairs
rise on both sides to the second story, meeting above in a lobby thirteen by
twenty-seven feet, from which a spacious court room, fifty-seven by fifty feet
and twenty feet high, is entered by a door in the center. Above the middle of
the court room a semi-circular bar separates the offices, attorneys, suitors
and witnesses from the audience. Inside the bar are the lawyers’ tables,
pleading table, officers’ desk and witness’ stand. Still further back in the
western extreme of the court room is the judge’s bench, with the grand and petit
jury box on either side, in the shape of an L. In the rear of the court room are
three rooms, one immediately behind the judge’s bench, for a witness’ room,
seventeen by twelve, and on each side a jury room, twenty by thirteen, son that
juries can retire, from a door opening from their seats, into their consultation
room, without having to pass through the audience. The building is of brick and
stone, the inner walls of the former material and the outer walls of the latter.
The cupola is surmounted by a town clock.”
As this second court house was built on the site which had been occupied by the
first court house, it became necessary during its construction to rent rooms for
the use of the county. Court was held in the basement of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, located in the same square and just south of the county grounds. The
rental was two dollars a day, during the holding of court. When the second court
house, in turn, gave way to the third, or present, court house, the county
commissioners, as we shall see, bought additional grounds on the west of the
square and moved that building back on Lafayette street; so that court continued
to be held, and the county offices to be occupied, as before except during the
time occupied in moving the building, when court was held in the old Price’s
Theater, on Michigan street, and the several county offices were held in the old
city building on Jefferson street, between Main and Lafayette. Few persons, though,
remember that the basement of the First Methodist Episcopal Church was used as a
court room during the time when what we now call the old court house on Lafayette
street was in course of construction.
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| The Third County Jail |
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As soon as the second court house
had been completed, the county commissioners
made preparations for the building of a new
brick jail and sheriff’s residence, which
should be in keeping with the court house.
This building was constructed in 1860, a
cost of thirty-five thousand dollars. The
old brick jail, our second county jail, was
sold for one hundred and sixty-one dollars
and fifty cents to Adam S. Baker, who took
it down and removed it. The new jail was a
handsome structure, two stories in height,
and fronting also on Main street. It was
erected on lot two hundred and fifty of the
original plat of South Bend, which had been
purchased for that purpose, for the sum of
twenty-six hundred dollars, and added to the
original quarter square donated by Coquillard
and Taylor.
A well proportioned tower stood well out
on the northeast corner; and the whole building
presented a rather imposing, castellated
appearance from the front. No finer county
building could then be found in Indiana.
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Re-Arrangement of the Court House
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In subdivision second of this chapter, we have referred to the order made by Judge Stanfield,
at the March term, 1873, of the St. Joseph circuit court, for the re-arrangement and
improvement of the court room. The order was as follows:
“It is ordered by the court, That the court room be re-arranged by moving the
west partition east to the west side of the west windows; that the three west rooms be
enlarged and finished up in a good, workmanlike manner, with a door from the court room
entering into each one. That an additional room be added to the clerk’s office across the
space now used for the stairway (That is, the stairway on the left of the entrance; that
on the right remained as the sole stairway to reach the court room.); and that there also
be a room of the same size constructed above the room last aforesaid, with a door into the
court room. That a stairway be made from the judge’s desk in the court room, as re-arranged,
down into the clerk’s office, and that the court room be re-arranged so as to place the
judge’s bench on the south side of the court room; and the bar occupy the portion of the
court room south of the general entrance to said rooms, and the portion north of said
entrance be prepared for the occupation of suitors, witnesses and spectators; and it is
further ordered that the clerks office and court room be heated by hot-air furnace. All
of the said work to be completed, finished and painted in a good, workmanlike manner; and
George W. Matthews, Dwight Deming and Thomas S. Stanfield are hereby appointed a committee
with full authority to cause said work to be done, and also to furnish and carpet said court
room, and that said committee shall audit all accounts for said work and materials and certify
the same to the county auditor for allowance and payment. It is further ordered that a
certified copy of this order be transmitted to the board doing county business.”
The improvements provided for in the order had been urged upon the county board for
a long time; but that body was divided as to the expediency of doing the work Dwight Deming
only being favorable to it. Finally the court, as authorized by law, took upon itself the
authority assumed in the order. Seldom has so praiseworthy and necessary an act been received
with so little favor by the people. The proposals to build the court house in 1853 were
received with far less criticism than were those for its improvements in 1873. It does not
seem that it was so much the matter of expense that net with opposition as it was the alleged
exercise of extraordinary power by the court. The people seemed to think that the work should
have been left to the county commissioners, elected, as they said, to attend to all county
business. The commissioners, however, had refused to have the work done; and so Judge Stanfield
was compelled to assume the responsibility of transforming an unsightly barn-like hall into a
decent and convenient court room, as his admirers said; or to change a plain and sufficient
place to hold court into a ladies’ parlor, as his critics said. No braver act was ever done by
him, none more necessary for the convenience of the court and people, and none which in the end
was more highly appreciated and commended by the people and the county. It was another instance
showing that it is always better to do the right thing, at whatever cost.
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A Historic Building
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The second court house and third jail satisfied all needs for forty years,
of until the close of the nineteenth century, when the county officers, the courts and the boards
took their place in the present elegant buildings. The fine, well built old court house, of “best
quality Athens stone,” portico and all, was taken in hand by a house mover from Chicago, lifted up,
turned half-way around and moved back to front on Lafayette street, all without disturbing a stone
or a brick. It was regarded as a fine piece of engineering. Happily, the building is to be preserved
as our historic county edifice. Through the public spirited policy of our recent boards of county
commissioners, whose membership has been made up of Samuel Bowman, Peter H. Reaves, John D. Fulmer,
Isaac Newton Miller, Marion B. Russ, Herman A. Tohulka, Barney C. Smith and Daniel A. White, the
venerable building which has witnessed so much of our county, state and national history, has been
devoted to the use of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Northern Indiana Historical Society. The
latter body occupies the first story, in which are collected and to be collected all that is most
precious in the relics of the St. Joseph valley. The upper story, the old court room itself, has been
given to the veterans of the war for the Union, where they meet weekly in patriotic and social reunion,
recalling the days that tried men’s souls and holding out to their children and grandchildren the lessons
of purest patriotism.
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The Fourth County Jail
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Not only was it necessary to move off the old court house, but also to demolish the beautiful
little brick jail and sheriff’s residence, with its picturesque turrets and battlements, in order to
make room for the imposing modern court house that was to take their place. A new jail, the fourth one
of our county jails, was erected in the rear by the side of the old court house and like it, facing
Lafayette street. The private residence, built and long occupied by William Miller, Esq., as he was
always styled, one of the most eminent citizens of the county, and father of General John F. Miller,
distinguished in the war of 1861, was purchased as a sheriff’s residence, and connected with the new
jail in the rear.
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The Third Court House
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The contract for the building of our present court house was let to James Stewart & Company,
October 31, 1896, for $184,246.27. Various expenses and furnishings brought the total cost up to nearly
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The walls are of Bedford stone and granite; and the building is
in the Grecian style of architecture. The corner stone was laid April 15, 1897, and the court house was
completed November 4, 1898. The county commissioners who were members of the board from the letting of
the contract to the completion of the building, and who also removed the old court house and built the
new jail, were John N. Lederer, John D. Fulmer, Peter H. Reaves and Samuel Bowman. The board actually
engaged in the construction of the court house, invited a committee of citizens, among the most eminent
business men of the county, to act as an advisory board in the very important work. This committee
consisted of Clement Studebaker, John B. Stoll, Joseph D. Oliver, Elmer Crockett and Patrick O’Brien.
The people of the county have good reason to be satisfied with the work done under direction of those
officials and public spirited citizens. The state board of charities recently made a visit of inspections
to the county, and our jail was pronounced by them the best in Indiana. Our court house is also said to
be, in its interior, one of the most beautiful and convenient in the state. The exterior would no doubt
be entitled to a like commendation; provided only our worthy county board would cause the removal of the
stone wall and bank of earth heaped around it, and which so dwarf its otherwise fine proportions.
(Howard, History of St. Joseph County, 1907)
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The Press
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The history of our newspapers I coeval with that of South Bend itself. The editors,
in the main, have been intelligent and broad minded, and have acted on the assumption
that their readers were also people of refinement and intelligence. Appeals to passion
and prejudice have been the exception. The appeal has rather been to reason, morals,
patriotism, good citizenship and the general welfare of the community.
It is a compliment to the intellectual and moral character of the first inhabitants
of the St. Joseph valley that our first newspaper was not only first in South Bend
and St. Joseph county, but first in northern Indiana and in the whole region of the
extreme northwest. In 1831 there was not newspaper published north of Indianapolis
or west of Detroit but that published at South Bend. Even Chicago was without a
newspaper. It was here in St. Joseph county, that the intelligent editor sought
out the intelligent reader.
The Pioneer. It was on Wednesday, November 16, 1831, that Jon Dougherty Defrees and his brother
Joseph H. Defrees published the first number of the Northwestern Pioneer and St. Joseph’s
Intelligencer. The prospectus of the paper was as follows:
“Prospectus of the North-Western Pioneer; and St. Joseph’s Intelligencer.
“We have commenced the publication of a weekly newspaper, bearing the above title,
in the town of South Bend, Ind.
“Among the many causes which have contributed to the happiness of the human family, the influence of the
press must be acknowledged. It is the grand means of disseminating useful information
of all kinds, literary, religious, political and scientific. It is the chief engine of
knowledge, one of he strong pillars of our liberty, one of the safeguards of the republic.
Destroy the Press, and to what are we reduced? Take away its liberty, and you sap the
foundation of one of the happiest features of our government. To the influence of the
Press, is attributed the progress of the liberal principles, which now pervade all ranks
among many nations of Europe. It gave impulse to the glorious achievements of our forefathers,
and to the revolution of July, 1830, in France. The ‘Spirit of Liberty’ is abroad—its banner
has been unfurled, and spread its blessing to the world. Its course may for a time be impeded,
it may for a moment be trampled upon by unhallowed despots; but the command is given Onward!—and
it will, if the source of intelligence is left open, eventually triumph.
“Information is conveyed through the medium of newspapers, much cheaper than by any other means.
This being the case, and recollecting that ‘knowledge is power,’ we cannot see how any family,
where there is one that can read, can do without a newspaper.
“The principles which shall govern us in conducting this paper, shall be purely NATIONAL. We
unfurl the Standard of ‘LIBERTY and UNION’—‘INTERNATIONAL IMPROVEMENT, and the
PROTECTION of DOMESTIC INDUSTRY’; and everything having a tendency to infuse a love and
adoration for our inestimable federal compact, and the ‘American System,’ into the minds
of the people, shall be published.
“All important state papers, and the proceedings of our National and State Legislatures, during
their respective sessions, will be laid, with all possible dispatch, before our reader.
“As a Literary paper, it shall be our aim to combine in its columns ‘instruction and amusement.’
“TALES of ‘feeling and fancy’ shall occasionally find a place in our paper. Nor will the spirit of
chastened humor be ‘frowned austerely’ from our pages.
“POETRY in all its variety—
“Interesting Anecodotes, Scraps, Extracts, &c., &c., &c.
“The people who have emigrated to the St. Joseph country, are enterprising and intelligent: and
we confidently look to them for a liberal patronage.
“CONDITIONS; The ‘PIONEER’ is printed on a large super-royal sheet, with entire new materials,
and contains as much (if not more) matter as any paper in the state, at $2. paid within three
moths after receiving the first number, $2.50 within the year, or $3.00 at the expiration.
"Agents for the Pioneer. The following gentlemen are requested to act as agents for us,
in procuring subscribers, &c. [only towns have been listed]: Pleasant Plain, Goshen, Terre
Coupee, Door Prairie, La Grange, Niles, White Pigeon, Beardsley’s Prairie, Fort Wayne, Richmond,
Piqua, Ohio, Newberryport [St, Joseph, Michigan], Christiana Mills, Lebanon, Eaton, Ohio.”
Not considering its politics, which were Whig, it is doubtful whether any newspaper starting in a new
country today could put out more comprehensive, manly and patriotic prospectus than that issued
for the Northwestern Pioneer by its enterprising editors and publishers.
The Pioneer was at first published “on Water street, South Bend, opposite A. Coquillard’s store;” that
is, is, on the southeast corner of what is now La Salle avenue and Michigan street. This was
one of the centers of the original town. Alexis Coquillard’s trading post was on the northeast
corner of the same streets; while the original ferry and steamboat landing were at what was
then the foot of Water street, where the beautiful concrete bridge now spans the river.
After seven months the place of publication and the name of the paper were both changed. In the issue
of May 23, 1832, the change of place was announced as follows: “Removal! The printing office
has been removed to the second story of the house formerly occupied as a tavern by Mr. Lilley,
on the corner of St. Joseph and Pearl streets.” The locality is now known as the southwest
corner of Vistula avenue and St. Joseph street. This was at what might be called the original
center of the town, near the site of the first trading post of Alexis Coquillard, and near the
point where Lathrop M. Taylor established his second trading post. The change in the name of
the paper is best shown in the new prospectus published also in the issue of May 23, 1832, as Follows:
“Prospectus of the St. Joseph Beacon: And Indiana and Michigan Intelligencer.
“Six months ago we commenced the publication of a weekly newspaper in the St. Joseph country, entitled
the ‘North-Western Pioneer.’ Various considerations have induced us to change its title to that
of the St. Joseph Beacon. One of the principal reasons of this change is a wish to associate
the name of the country in which the paper is published with its title.
“In establishing a newspaper in so new a country as this, we knew that we had many difficulties to
encounter—many deprivations which are not known in the old and densely populated parts of the
‘West’ with which to contend. One main difficulty when we commenced, was the want of mails.
People were not willing to subscribe without being certain of receiving their papers regularly.
This difficulty has been greatly remedied since the first number was issued. There is now a mail
twice a week to Ft. Wayne, twice a week to Detroit, via Niles, and once a week to Chicago, besides
several others will yet be established;—thus giving the people throughout the whole St. Joseph
country an opportunity of regularly receiving the paper. This, then, can be no longer urged against
subscribing for so valuable an acquisition to every family as a weekly newspaper. That more valuable
and essential information is disseminated through this medium than any other way, cannot be denied.
Who that is desirous of acquiring a just knowledge of the times in which believes—of the prosperity
or the adversity of the nation of which he is a member—or is anxious to place within the reach of a
rising family the means of rendering them useful and intelligent members of society, would refuse to
take a newspaper? It has been our aim—and shall continue to be our highest ambition—to render this
paper useful and interesting to all, of whatsoever political faith they may be:—but never to become
a vehicle for retailing the party slang of the day.
“The inhabitants of the St. Joseph country should support a paper somewhere within its limits. The
interests of the whole country are so closely connected that it can make no difference whether it
is published in Indiana or Michigan.”
The sentiments expressed in the prospectus of the Beacon, as also in that of the Pioneer, do credit
to the head and heart of the writer, or writers; and the people of the “St. Joseph country” will
always have good cause to honor the memory of the editors and publishers of their first newspaper.
It is easy to detect in the prospectus of the Beacon a note of disappointment. The country,—even
the whole St. Joseph country, including also all northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan,—was
evidently not yet ready to support a newspaper of the high standards adopted by the Defrees brothers.
Joseph H. Defrees sold his interest to his brother in 1833, and removed to Goshen. In 1834, John D.
Defrees removed the paper to White Pigeon, Michigan, where he disposed of it to a Mr. Gilbert. This
town was also in the “St. Joseph country,” and according to the prospectus of the Beacon it was
immaterial whether the paper was published in the state of Indiana or in Michigan territory, provided
only it was published in the St. Joseph country.
It is pleasant to add, that although the Defrees brothers failed in permanently establishing a
newspaper in the St. Joseph country, yet each of them attained to success in after life.
Joseph H. Defrees, though the kindly help of Col. Lathrop M. Taylor, became a distinguished
merchant in Goshen. He also represented his constituency in both branches of the state legislature
and in congress. John D. Defrees returned to South Bend, studied law, obtained a lucrative practice,
was elected to the state senate, became editor of the Indianapolis Journal and was appointed public
printer by president Lincoln.
The Register. South Bend did not remain long without a newspaper. The Free Press was established
by William Millikan in 1836. The paper was fairly successful for a time; but after nine years was
discontinued. In September, 1845, the plant and fixtures were purchased by Albert W. West and
Schuyler Colfax. On September 12, 1845, the first copy of the St. Joseph Valley Register was
issued by Albert W. West and Schuyler Colfax as publishers. Schuyler Colfax was the editor.
Thus came into existence the famous Register, for so many years a welcome visitor to hundreds
of families in St. Joseph county. It was a first a weekly, six column folio, 22x32 in size. In
politics, the paper was whig. On the subject of slavery, the editor took “the middle ground
between the two dangerous extremes.” “We shall be opposed,” said e, “both to Calhounism and
Birneyism, viewing them as ultraisms.” “To the first we shall be hostile because it holds that
outrageous doctrine that slavery is a national blessing.” “To the other we shall be opposed
because its course, we think, tends to rivet the chains of the slave more firmly, to prevent a
clam and argumentative discussion of the whole question through the south.” “Without regard,
therefore, to these two extremes, we shall be fixedly opposed to enlarging the borders of
slavery even one inch, either so far as soil or power and weight in the national councils
are concerned, and shall hail with happiness the day when the southern states, after calm
examination, shall in a constitutional and legal manner adopt a feasible plan of emancipation,
either gradual or immediate.” Such was the statesmanlike position taken by Schuyler Colfax on
his first stepping before the footlights on that stage where he was destined to play so important
a part in the history of his country. Well would it have been for that country, north and south,
if these moderate views of the future vice-president of the United States had been adopted, rather
than appeal to the dreadful arbitrament of war. After seven months, Mr. Colfax became sole
proprietor of the Register.
The paper prospered under the business management and editorial supervision of Schuyler Colfax, and
with the beginning of the third year it was enlarged to a seven column folio. Early in the year
1848, as we have seen, the first telegraph line was built from New York to Chicago. The
enterprising editor of the Register of course made instant use of this new means of receiving
information from the outside world. The following, from the issue of December 27, 1849, while
in a half humorous vein, is now of historical interest, both as to what had then been done, and,
more, as to what was to be done through the marvelous discoveries of Samuel Finley Breese Morse:
Dispatches appeared in the Register of that date which were sent from New York at four o’clock in
the afternoon, and, by reason of the difference in local time between New York and South Bend,
were received at South Bend at three o’clock and thirty-five minutes,—apparently twenty-five
minutes before they were sent. The editor had this to say of the strange feat: “If Morse ever
gets a line across the ocean, by way of Iceland, we shall expect him to furnish European news
up to Thursday night every week for our Thursday morning’s paper.” Morse did not get a line
across the ocean; but Cyrus West Field did,—to Ireland, however, and not by way of Iceland.
Mr. Colfax’s humorous prediction, like that of Puck, that he would “put a girdle around the
earth in forty minutes,” has been more than fulfilled, and Thursday evening’s European news
is now published every Thursday morning; and this Mr. Colfax and the Register both lived to see.
Another historical telegraphic item appeared in the same issue of the Register. “Last Saturday,” says
the editor, “the atmosphere being dry, cool and pure, and everything else propitious, the
proper communications were made, and the operator at Buffalo wrote through beautifully to
Milwaukee, eight hundred miles, without re-writing at Detroit. We received our report of
that afternoon direct from Buffalo. This is the first time that this has been done, and we
believe eight hundred miles is as far as writing has ever been sent by any of the operators
on any of the lines of the world.” It would seem that the world was still dazed with the
marvels of the electric telegraph; and yet, like the vivid anticipations of the Queen of
Sheba, the half of its glories were not then made known.
In 1851, Mr. Colfax received his first nomination for congress, but was defeated. During the campaign
James Davis, a talented lawyer and writer of the day, occupied the editorial chair. In July,
1853, a Northrup power press, capable of printing a thousand copies of the paper per hour,
was placed in the Register office. This was a great advance. In 1854, Mr. Colfax was again
nominated for congress, and was this time elected. Alfred Wheeler then became editor; and
in April, 1857, the partnership of Colfax and Wheeler was formed, under which firm the paper
was continued until Mr. Wheeler became sole owner. Mr. Hall afterwards became a partner of
Mr. Wheeler.
In November, 1865, Archibald Beal, who for eight years had been the proprietor of the Mishawaka Enterprise,
purchased the Register, in partnership with C. E. Fuller. Two years afterwards Alfred B. Miller
and Elmer Crockett, who had been engaged on the paper, purchased the interest of Mr. Fuller,
and the firm became Beal, Miller and Company. In January, 1872, Mr. Beal purchased the interest
of Mr. Miller and Mr. Crocket; and 1873 Daniel S. Marsh became associated editor. In February,
1874, D. J. Benner purchased a half interest in the Register, and became one of the editors,
Mr. Marsh remaining but a short time longer in that capacity, In August, 1875, the Register
Company was formed, with Mr. Beal as president; Edward W. Henricks, secretary; Noah F. Van Winkle,
treasure; Orlando H. Palmer, George H. Alward and Alexander N. Thomas, the remaining incorporators.
On October 13, 1878, a new corporation was formed, the Register Printing Company, with Daniel S,
Marsh, president; Chauncey N. Fassett. Secretary; Herbert S. Fassett, treasure; Eugene M. Herr and
Frank A. Marsh, the remaining incorporators. On September 18, 1875, a daily edition of the Register
was established. A Sunday edition was also issued for a time. In 1887, after a notable career of
over forty years, the famous journal was discontinued, the plant and fixtures being sold to the
Tribune Printing Company. The Register was weakened by the withdrawal of Mr. Mill, Mr. Crockett
and others, in 1872, and the subsequent establishment by these young men of the South Bend Tribune.
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The South Bend Tribune
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On March 9, 1872, the first copy of the South Bend Weekly Tribune was issued by the
Tribune Printing Company. The incorporators of the company were Alfred Bryant Miller,
Elmer Crocket, James H. Banning and Elias W. Hoover. These gentlemen had all been
connected with the Register, and had withdrawn by reason of some dissatisfaction with
the management of that paper. They were young men, experienced already in newspaper
business and fully determined to issue a progressive, up-to-date journal, such as they
believed the people of South Bend and St. Joseph county demanded. On May 28, 1873, the
first issue of the Daily Tribune appeared; and since that date the Tribune, daily and
weekly, has been one of the strong and influential paper of the state. Alfred B. Miller,
the first editor, was a man of marked personality and great force of character; and he
made the Tribune a power not only in politics, but in the molding of public opinion on
all social and other subjects in which the people were interested. His style as a writer
was incisive, persuasive and popular, with humorous and poetical veins that made the
Tribune one of the most readable papers. Accordingly, although the Tribune was Republican,
almost partisans, in politics, yet its news and editorial columns were sought by people
of all shades of political opinion. At the same time Mr. Crockett, who has been the business
manager from the beginning, has so conducted the fiscal affairs that the plant has yearly
increased in wealth and has besides made its owners wealthy. One of the fine characters
connected with the Tribune in an editorial capacity for many years, Richard H. Lyon, has
already been many times mentioned in these pages. He was a writer of the most elegant taste,
and did very much to give to the paper its high literary character. Mr. Miller died in the
fall of 1892, and Mr. Lyon early in the year 1907. The editorial charge of the paper since
their death has fallen into worthy hands, and the original high stand of the Tribune has
been maintained. Mr. Frederick A. Miller, only son of Alfred B. Miller, is now the
editor-in-chief, and William K. Lamport is associate editor. The veteran Elmer Crockett;
the only one left of the original founders, is still the business manager. Charles E.
Crockett, son of Elmer, is secretary of the company.
The original site of the Tribune plant was No. 127 West Washington street. Afterwards the company
purchased the lot a No. 128 North Main street, with grounds in the rear for its extensive
presses and machinery, for a complete printing and bindery establishment. There the company
has built up one of the best equipped newspaper and job printing establishments in the state.
Typesetting machines have been introduced, and the most modern presses have been installed,
including a perfecting stereotype press, electrotyping machine and everything else demanded
by the most modern printing office in the country.
The Times. In the year 1853, Ariel Euclid Drapier and his son William H. Drapier began the publication
in South Bend of the St. Joseph County Form. This was the first attempt to establish a
Democratic newspaper in St. Joseph county. The majority of the people in the early history
of the county were Whigs; and after the founding of the Republican party that party took
the place of the Whigs, and under the brilliant leadership of Mr. Colfax maintained its
supremacy in county politics. The tasks of the Drapiers, father and son, in building up
a Democratic paper was therefore one of difficulty. Ariel Euclid Drapier was a man of
great force of character, and he and his talented son did succeed in making the Forum a
powerful newspaper. They were both expert shorthand writers, and their talent in this
respect was for many years made use of in the legislature, where they prepared and
published the celebrated Brevier Reports, now so valuable from a historical point of view,
as preserving the debates and proceedings of the sessions of he general assembly. This work
was carried on by William H. Drapier for many years after the death of his father. During
the absence of the father and son in attendance upon the legislature, Charles E. Drapier,
a younger son, was in charge of the Forum. A semi-weekly edition of the forum was published
for a few months in 1858, but did not prove a success. For some vigorous language used by
the paper in relation to the conduct of the war, it was for a short time suspended during
the year 1863, by order of General Milo B. Hascall. The Forum was afterwards sold to Edward
Malloy, who, having been a gallant soldier in the Union army, determined to change the name
of the paper to the National Union. This name was subsequently changed to the South Bend
Weekly Union. In December, 1874, Charles L. Murray, a veteran newspaper man, and formerly
a member of the state senate from the Goshen district, purchased the Union and placed it
n charge of his son, the brilliant Charles T. Murray. Charles T. Murray changed the name to
the Herald, and formed the Herald Printing and Publishing Company, which assumed control of
the paper and started a lively morning daily. On May 22, 1876, Charles L. Murray re-purchased
the plant, came to South Bend and assumed charge of the Herald which he conducted in a very
able manner, making it one of the most influential Democratic papers in the state, from 1881
to 1883, Henry A. Peed was owner and editor of the paper. He gave to it the name of the South
Bend Times, which it has since retained. On September 26, 1881, Mr. Peed formed the South Bend
Times Company, the stockholders being Henry A. Peed, Robert L. Peed and Jacob D. Henderson. On
March 2, 1882, the paper needing additional capital, the property was taken over by a new company,
the Times Printing Company. The stockholders were Joseph Henderson, Sorden Lister, Henry A. Peed,
Alfred Klingel, Robert L. Peed, Jacob D. Henderson, Timothy E. Howard and Harrison G. Beemer.
In the spring of 1883, the controlling stock in this corporation was transferred to the Hon.
John B. Stoll, the brilliant editor of the Ligonier Banner, which Mr. Stoll had made “the ablest
Democratic paper in Indiana,” as William S. Holman declared to the writer, years afterwards. Of
the succeeding history of the Times, it is perhaps sufficient to say that the Democrats of the
city and county soon became satisfied that they had in that paper one of the very best in the
county and in its editor-in-chief, one of the ablest and wisest editorial writers in the United
States. Closely associated with Mr. Stoll, from 1883 until his lamented death, December 15, 1906,
was Charles Albert McDonald. But better than mere party service, however desirable that may be,
the Times and its accomplished editors had and still have a constituency far beyond all partisan
lines. The paper has been in the best sense independent in politics and in all other matters
affecting the public welfare. The independence of the press is one of the chief safeguards of
the liberties of the people; and this truth the people themselves are quick to recognize. It does
not follow that the independent paper does not sometimes make mistakes, grievous mistakes occasionally,
does not at times do violence to the feelings and convictions of its readers and particularly its
party supporters; this, however, is far better in the end than to take a cowardly part in the
discussion of public questions. Party principles, as in the case of all other principles, must of
course control in large degree the sentiments of a party newspaper; any other course would be
dishonest with its readers. But within the lines there is ample room for a free and manly course,
as was exemplified in the career of Peter Stirling. In this best sense the Times has been an
independent party paper; and the people, without respect to the party, have appreciated the strong,
manly course pursued by the Times and have accorded to it a most generous support. There is indeed
no town in the state, perhaps in the whole country, that has two better newspapers than the South
end Times and the South Bend Tribune. Of course they quarrel with one another occasionally, but the
people make allowances for this and appreciate the fact that they are favored with two first class,
manly, independent newspapers, devoted, first of all, to the welfare of the Queen City of the St.
Joseph valley.
The Sunday News. Besides the Sunday Register, already noted, a Sunday paper was issued for a time by
Timothy G. Turner, in connection with his Annals, which he began in 1969. His first publication
was the Gazetteer of the St. Joseph Valley, in 1867. He likewise began in 1871 the publication
of a city directory. The annual and the directory were continued until 1881, after which William L.
Farr, who had been a canvasser for Mr. Turner’s publication, continued the directory, but the Turner’s
Annuals and Sunday paper were discontinued.
On April 24, 1887, Chauncey N. Fassett, who had been editor of the Register, issued the first copy
of his Sunday News, and has continued since that time to issue a the paper every Sunday morning.
It has admirably filed its well recognized place among the established journals of the city, being,
as its name indicates, and in harmony with the versatile talent of its genial editor, a newsy, local
Sunday morning paper, one that would be sorely missed by every citizen who looks there for the news
that is reported after the issue of the Saturday Tribune and Times. The News has occasionally some
difficulty in steering its course between the breakers of the Times and the Tribune, avoiding a
republication of the news given by either of the two dailies, and taking its own independent course
in the discussion of topics pertaining to the city’s interest and in giving the news in its own line.
It is enough to say that the course pursued by the Sunday News has been a successful one.
Other Newspapers. The Goniec Polski, or Polish Messenger, is published in the interests and for the
entertainment and information of the very large and intelligent Polish population of South Bend
and vicinity. It is a semi-weekly, six column folio, and is independent in politics. The editor
and proprietor is Mr. George W. J. Kalczynski, born and educated in the United States and a master
of the English language and literature as well as of the Polish. He is one of the most accomplished
and enterprising of the younger leaders of the city of South Bend.
The Indiana Courier was established in 1873, and published in the German language in the
interest of the German people of South Bend and vicinity. Soon after its establishment the Courier
was purchased by Gustav Fickentscher, who changed the name to the South Bend Courier. Later Mr.
Fickentscher associated with himself in the management of the Courier Mr. Andrew Troeger. The
Courier was always a liberal, democratic journal.
The Industrial Era was established in the fall of 1879 by Ralph E. Hoyt. It was an advocate
of the principles of the national Greenback party. It was published for only a few months and
was succeeded by the South Bend Era. The first copy of the latter paper was issued on March 27,
1880, by Benjamin Franklin Shively, who was sole editor and proprietor. Those who had the pleasure
of reading this bright, crispy, carefully edited paper, remember its pages with a great deal of
satisfaction as the first public work of the brilliant gentleman whose fine oratory was afterwards
for years heard in the halls of congress and before the people not only of Indiana, but throughout
the whole country. Mr. Shively, a native of St. Joseph county, is without question one of the first
orators, as he is one of the wisest statesmen of Indiana.
The Martin Van Buren Free Soil movement of 1848 was championed for a few months in the Free
Democrat, established by Dr. E. W. H. Hill.
On January 26, 1892, the Post Printing Company was incorporated by John W. O’Bannon, William H.
Burke and Gay L. Tafts, for the purpose of engaging in the publication of a newspaper.
The office of the Post was located at No. 232 North Main street, and the paper was an
exceedingly neat and well edited one. But there did not seem to be any place for it,
and it survived but a few months. The editor deserves to be remembered. He was Mr.
Herbert Hunt, and was unusually talented and ambitious. He was afterwards one of the
most valued reporters on the Indianapolis Sun, and eventually removed to the state of
Washington, where he became editor of a newspaper on the coast.
Aside from the journals mentioned, a few newspapers representing special interests have been published from time to time, but need not be
further referred to. The city seems now to be, and for several years past to have been,
fully provided for in this line by the Daily and Weekly Times, the Daily and Weekly
Tribune and the Sunday news. No city has better newspapers, and they seem to fully
satisfy all the needs of our people in this line.
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| James Oliver |
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James Oliver is a Scotchman by birth or it
may be that the discouragement of his earlier years would
have completely overwhelmed him. His native place was
Roxburyshire, and he was born amid humble circumstances
on the 28th of August, 1823. Early in life he learned
the value of honest and unremitting labor, and his
remarkable success has never weakened his respect
and warm regard for the conscientious workman. At
the age of twelve he came with his family to the
United States, and, after living for one year in
Seneca county, New York, they located at Mishawaka,
Indiana. James at once put his shoulder to the family
wheel and became one of the supporters of the household,
and in 1840, then seventeen, entered into independent work.
In the year mentioned
Mr. Oliver undertook a contract for the Lee Company of
Mishawaka to lay pump logs in trenches for the purpose
of carrying water from a brook through Vistula street
to the race and still house. He was successful and soon
after brought his first house and lot in Mishawaka. The
still house, however, was later destroyed by fire and it
was necessary to seek a new occupation. Soon after he learned the cooper’s trade, getting out his own timber
and making his own barrels, sometime as high as eleven per day. From 1845 to 1855 he was in the employ of the
St. Joseph Iron Works of Mishawaka where he acquired that practical knowledge of the foundry business which
became so useful to him in after years. Prior to this time—May 30, 1844—he had married Miss Susan Doty of
Mishawaka and commenced housekeeping in the modest cottage which he owned.
In 1855 while waiting at South Bend for a train to Goshen on a matter of business, Mr. Oliver met a Mr. Lamb who was
part owner of a small foundry in South Bend, the first of its kind. The attraction was so mutual
that the young man purchased an interest in the enterprise and thus became a permanent fixture
and force.
The little foundry, with its additions, which became the foundation of the establishment of the present day,
was first known as the South Bend Iron Works, the plant being located on Mill Street near Washington not far
from the site now occupied by the Coquillard Wagon Works building. In a few years Mr. Oliver bought the
interest of his partner and among his first contracts secured the iron works for the new St. Joseph Hotel
which was then being built where the stately Oliver House now stands. While the enterprise was rapidly
advancing, a flood washed away his water power, and, although he was obliged to install horse power, he
completed his contract according to stipulations. On Christmas Eve, 1859 a portion of the works was
destroyed by fire but was promptly rebuilt and operated on a larger and a more modern scale. Later,
Mr. Oliver was associated with T. M. Bissell of South Bend and George Milburn of Mishawaka who became
interested in the prospects and substantial interests of South Bend. In 1864 another fire wiped out
the plant, but it was promptly rebuilt and increased in capacity.
In the new and enlarged works Mr. Oliver continued his experiments which resulted in the perfection of the chilled
plow—a plow which is self-scouring, with share and moldboard of chilled cast iron. In spite of
ignorant pleasantry of friends and bitter attacks of critics, he patiently labored night and day
to prove that his ideas were practicable. The agricultural world knows the results, as the plow
trade of the globe was revolutionized. At the Centennial Exposition held at Philadelphia in 1876
the Oliver Chilled Plow received the encomiums of the expert agriculturists of the work, and the
West Race works soon proved too small to meet the demands of the host of converted farmers.
Foreseeing this, Mr. Oliver had purchased the Perkins farm of thirty-two acres southwest of the city and in 1875
commenced the great Oliver Chilled Plow Works which is there located and whose products
go to every part of the civilized globe. They are considered in the light not only of
one of the greatest public benefits of this section of the state but among the leading
industries of the world.
In 1885, with his son Joseph D., Mr. Oliver completed a handsome opera house, conceded to be one of the best
equipped play houses in the west. It was dedicated October 26, 1885 by the rendition of
the drama Louis XI by the great actor W. H. Sheridan. In December, 1899 the Oliver Hotel
was thrown open to the public. It is one of the finest hostelries in the country and but
another monument to the public spirit and liberality of James Oliver. At his own expense
he also erected South Bend’s city hall, agreeing to await the tax payers for repayment.
The home of Mr. Oliver is on West Washington, and for many years it was presided over by his wife who died
September 13, 1902. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Oliver are: Joseph D., associated
with his father in his large interests, and Josephine, wife of Hon. George Ford, a prominent
attorney of South Bend and congressman from this district from 1885 to 1887. (Howard,
History of St. Joe County, 1907)
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St. Joseph County was that of Alexis Coquillard, who is usually regarded
as the founder of the city of South Bend. The continuity of our history is well
preserved in the life of Mr. Coquillard. While he was a fur trader and of French
descent, as were most of his predecessors in the valley of the St. Joseph, and while
he was always on friendly terms with the Indians, is so far that the Pottawatomies
would have made him their chief if he had not prevented it; yet both he and his wife
were Americans of the Americans, spoke the English language as readily as they did
the French, and came to the valley to lay the foundation of a distinctively American
community.
In 1827 Lathrop Minor Taylor settled here. Mr. Taylor was a native of Clinton, Oneida county,
New York, and was born July 4, 1805. He came with his parents to Detroit when he was
six years of age. Like Alexis Coquillard, he came to us as a fur trader, from Detroit
and by way of Fort Wayne. His brother-in-law, Samuel Hanna, of Fort Wayne, was the
senior member of the firm of Samuel Hanna & co., general traders at that place, and
Mr. Taylor came here as agent of the firm, to establish a trading post at this point.
Alexis Coquillard and Lathrop M. Taylor, though rivals in business, seemed to think,
with Admiral Schley, that there was glory enough for all; and they worked in harmony
for the common good of the town of which they were to become the founders. Mr. Coquillard
had great faith that the settlement on the St. Joseph would grow towards the north
from what is now La Salle avenue, instead of to the south of that line. To the north
of us, the St. Joseph country, as it was called, had then received many settlers, while
the country to the south, as far as the Wabash river, was occupied exclusively by Indians.
He therefore advised the new trader to locate his store near to the place where he himself
had removed. The site therefore selected by, or for, Mr. Taylor was on what is now East
Madison street, on the west bank of the river, and a block north of Mr. Coquillard’s own
trading post. The locality is close to Judge Lucius Hubbard’s residence, between that and
the residence of the Hon. Benjamin F. Shively.