Bill No. 43-16 Elbel House Historic Landmark Designation

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Elbel House 806 Leland Historical Context: The Elbel name was of great importance in South Bend from 1848 when Johann Friedrick Elbel, a 50- year -old musician and tile maker, along with his wife, Anna Susanna, came to South Bend from Arzberg, Germany. In 1854, Johann Elbel built a house at 300 West Marion Street in South Bend, which became the center of the Elbel family's musical tradition. The Elbel family founded the first choral society in South Bend in 1855. By 1867, nine Elbel families were living in the neighborhood around Marion and Lafayette Streets, which had attracted other immigrants from Arzberg, thus garnering the name Little Arzberg. The Elbel Concert Band and Orchestra, featuring Johann and Anna's sons John, Lorenz, Henry and Wolfgang, performed classical music at South Bend venues from 1858 -1918. Lorenz Elbel married Johanna Mainer in 1856, and they had six sons: Henry, Herman, Richard, Robert, Fred, and Louis. All were musically gifted like their father, especially Louis, who composed the University of Michigan fight song, The Victors, which was first performed by John Philip Sousa's Band in 1899. Richard Elbel (1867- 1949) opened a music store in South Bend at 114 North Michigan Street in 1880. His brothers soon joined the venture, naming it Elbel Brothers Music Store. The store remained in business for ninety years. Richard served as president of the business. Richard Elbel, the builder of 8o6 Leland, also served as director of the South Bend Orchestra, and a South Bend Parks Commissioner. Richard Elbel served on the Parks Commission with George M. Platner, W.W. Ridenour and Otis Romine. Elbel was known as the "Dean of South Bend Parks." He was the only charter member of the South Bend Parks Commission to serve continuously until his retirement in 1939• Richard Elbel displayed a love for the development and preservation of green space from early adulthood. He served the city without salary and always insisted on paying his own traveling expenses. He was reappointed by four different mayors from different political parties. In 192o Richard Elbel was elected President of the State Park Association. He was adamant of the need for city planning and in particular for parks and streets. He believed streets should include landscaping and a sensitivity to appearance, thus attaching himself to the landscape and urban parks movements which produced such wonders as Central Park in New York City and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. He was instrumental in obtaining grants of land 100 -200 feet wide from property owners from Leeper Park northward, providing for the beginnings of what would become the Riverside Drive Parkway. In 1963, South Bend Parks opened Elbel Golf Course, on the extreme northwest edge of South Bend, named in his honor. Richard and his wife, Maude, had two children, Verniece and Donald. The house at 8o6 Leland was built in 1894, and the family lived there from 1895 -1903, when the Elbels moved to 605 Portage Avenue in South Bend, staying in the Little Arzberg Neighborhood, some of which is now incorporated in the Chapin Park Neighborhood.