The Family Piechorowski - South Bend, IN

South Bend

In 1865 South Bend incorporated itself as a city and set up three political wards. In 1867 Lowell joined South Bend and became the fourth ward, quickly losing its identity as an independent town.

Up until the 1860's farming was the main occupation of most people who moved into St. Joseph County. The 1860 census shows that there were 97 manufacturers in South Bend. The 1870 census shows that there were 270 manufacturers. By 1890 South Bend had more manufacturers per capita than any other city in the United States, drawing immigrant workers from everywhere.

It has been said that the demand for labor in South Bend in the early days was so intense that Oliver and Studebaker would send men abroad to tell people of the opportunities for work in South Bend. They would sign the workers up, help them get to the United States, and in some cases even have trains waiting for them in New York when they came off the ships.

Both Studebaker and Oliver would provide houses for their workers, near their factories, roughly in the area between Walnut Street and Fellows Street, and Indiana Avenue and Sample Street, thus creating German and Polish communities. There were a number of Swedes who lived in the area around Lafayette Street to Michigan Street, and Sample Street to Ewing Avenue. Some Hungarians also lived here.

Up until the 1870's the Polish families lived in scattered areas of the city. However, as housing began to be provided for them by various manufacturers and as they slowly grew into one of major ethnic groups, they began to dominate the southwestern part of the city.

Roughly the patterns for ethnic occupancy did not change between 1880 and 1910.

In the late 1800's new immigration laws were passed and the flow of migrants into South Bend slowed down. However, with the beginning of World War I, more European immigrants came to South Bend, settling into already established ethnic areas.

Site Design by PiechDesign © 2002