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DISCUSSION Conclusion #1 The proposed area readily fulfills the criteria of historic and cultural significance. It is an example of middle-class, late nineteenth-century, and early twentieth-century, neighborhood in South Bend that has not been protected by preservation ordinance. As such, it remains as a coherent, compact collection of buildings reflective_ of a specific era in South Bend development. The majority of the structures in this neighborhood are of similar vintage, built between 1892 and 1916. They remain as a cohesive neighborhood that is much the same as when the area was developed. As a group, the structures are suitable for preservation because of their cohesiveness and similarity in age, scale , materials and arrangement on the landscape. Retaining the entire neighborhood intact heightens the area's educational utility, especially into the future as other neighborhoods of this era become interspersed with newer and unsympathetic structures and alterations to the buildings in them. If protected, the neighborhood will remain for future generations to study as an example of a specific time and way of life that has almost disappeared. Historical Develoament The Cushing Street area was located in bank out lots 107, 108, 109 and 112 of the original town of South Bend and remained mostly as empty land until it was platted for house construction in the 1890s by, the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the St. Joseph Agricultural Society, Albert G. Cushing and Charles T. Lindsey and family. The Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company was founded in 1857 by Henry and Clem Studebaker. The company originally produced wagons and wagon parts, eventually evolving into an automobile manufacturer. Aside from its extremely successful manufacturing business the Studebaker Brothers Company also dabbled in real estate, platting the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Subdivision of Bank Out Lot 112 in 1900, led by Clem Studebaker Sr. [5] The St. Joseph Agricultural Society, a society of prominent businessmen and area farmers, led by its president, Eli Wade, and secretary, J. Benjamin Birdsell, platted the Agricultural Society Subdivision of BOL 112 in 1891. Mr. Wade was a pioneer and prominent citizen of New Carlisle, he made his living as a very successful farmer, owning over 180 acres. [5] Mr. J. Benjamin Birdsell was the secretary of the society and president of the Birdsell Manufacturing Company, a corporation known throughout the world as the largest clover huller factory in existence. [6]