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entre Township Cemetery is located six and a half miles southeast of South Bend at the southwest corner of Ironwood and Roosevelt Roads. The site consists of a parcel of land a quarter of an acre in size containing burial markers, -_f - our large trees and some--ornamental-plantings-.-Immediately-to-the---- west is a cultivated field; late twentieth-century houses have been built across the street on the north and southeast corners -of the intersection. Historic obituaries indicate that the cemetery has also been known as Van Buskirk and Leach Cemetery. The cemetery was founded in 1838 on land originally belonging to Jeremiah Smith. The site now consists primarily of burials from 1850 to the 18708; it is almost entirely a burial site for pioneers of Centre Township. There are only a few early twentieth-century burials here. The cemetery is also the burial site for at least three veterans of American wars: Elias Palmer, William Loveall and Josiah Bartlett. Centre Township Cemetery is in excellent condition for a site of its age. There are approximately eighty standing grave markers; only a few are broken, several have been repaired. The cemetery remains as a fine, intact collection of nineteenth-century grave markers that exhibit the typical range of stylistic types common to nineteenth century cemeteries. Poured concrete containments -- probably from early in this century -- surround three family plots, those of the Palmer, Crocker and Leach families. eentre Township Cemetery is located in an area that is increasingly xperiencing suburbanization -- mainly residential expansion. The site is within a mile of new apartments and houses on a country road that is becoming an increasingly busy thoroughfare. Designation of this cemetery would continue the HPC's recent commitment to recommending pioneer burial sites for historic designation and protection, first in the areas that seem to be most threatened by development, and eventually including St. Joseph County's entire collection of pioneer burial sites. The cemetery has a continuing relevance. As a forerunner of the present " community it is useful as historic material evidence of the people who founded the County. The cemetery is one of the last material remains from the area's frontier period. Most of the people interred here migrated from Ohio and settled in and around Centre Township. Typical jargon describing the American frontier would describe these settlers as having helped "tame the wilderness;" and in reality they did just that, being those people who cleared the land for farming. These pioneers also represent, in terms of the area's economic growth, the next important period in local history, that of agricultural growth. In recent years the study of cemeteries has expanded with the recognition that they represent highly organized cultural landscapes. The analysis of--.. gravemarker styles over time is of interest to folklorists, historians and' archaeologists. Geographic analysis of cemeteries as a reflection of local land use patterns is also being pursued by some social researchers.[1] Thus he preservation and maintenance of cemeteries is significant to the istorian, the archaeologist, the folklorist, the sociologist and the cultural geographer, as well as those who simply want to protect local heritage. 1