COA APPLICATION #2020-0302: NORTHERN INDIANA HISTORIC SOCIETY INC. V. SOUTH BEND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION

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Part 1: Navarre History Pierre Freischutz Navarre was the first man of European descent to settle in St. ' Joseph County. He was an educated man of French ancestry, born in 1787 in Michigan Territory near Detroit. Navarre came to this area as an agent forJohn Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. In 1820, he built his cabin and established a trading post on the northeast bank of the St. Joseph River, with the intent to trade for furs with the area Native population. He and his wife, a Potawatomi woman named Angelique Kechoueckouay, lived on the site there with their large family, gaining title in 1831 to the 62.6 acres surrounding the site. Pierre Navarre and his family left South Bend in 1835 tojoin other Potawatomi who were forcibly removed to Kansas, though Angelique passed away shortly after their relocation. After her death, Navarre returned to the area, working as a farmer and trader, Figure 1: Pierre Navorre selling goods along the Kankakee River. Pierre Navarre passed away in 1864 and Is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery at the University of Notre Dame. The original location of Navarre's cabin is recognized today as 123 West North Shore Drive, on the north bank of the St. Joseph River. Navarre sited his cabin for easy access to the river, the primary means of transportation for trappers and traders before established roads. His associated homestead extended from the river's edge north to what today is Marquette Avenue. Navarre was recorded as living in the cabin by Father Sorin during an 1850 parish census. Following his death in 1864, Navarre's land became the property of Samuel Leeper. The builders of Navarre Place (today's magnificent homes along North Shore Drive) purchased the Navarre property from Leeper's heirs for residential development. In recognition of its historical significance, the developers donated the Navarre Cabin to the Northern Indiana Historical Society in May of 1895. The Society's original unrealized intent was to relocate the building to Howard Park; in 1901, the South Bend Board of Public Works agreed to allow the cabin to be moved to a location on the west side of the river. The cabin was moved in 1904 by Alexander Staples and his firm, White & Staples, to a site noted as Bartlett/Marion Streets. Around this time, Leeper Park's design was being developed by Herman H. Beyer, Park Superintendent. In 1911, noted landscape architect George Edward Kessler was hired to develop a master plan for the park. As the city expanded, the North Pumping Station required expansion as well. It was enlarged in 1912, and Wellhouse #2 added in 1915. In 1916, the Navarre Cabin was once again relocated to a site next to the north/northwest end of the reservoir to make way for further development. In 1918, a (historically inaccurate) brick chimney and fireplace were added as part of its remodeling. The cabin was used by the local Boy Scouts as their meeting place from 1925 until World War II. The cabin was once again moved in 1954 to its current location to create distance from the reservoir, against which it previously abutted. Another inappropriate chimney and fireplace, this time of stone, were added along with landscaped paths. In 2000, the cabin had deteriorated to the extent that its survival was in doubt, and it was described as an eyesore in the park. The NIHS partnered with the Historic Preservation Commission, and with the assistance of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Memorial Hospital (now Memorial Hospital of South Bend/Beacon Health), and other local foundations, $150,000 was raised to hire the Leatherwood Company, the nation's leading log cabin restoration company, to evaluate and restore the cabin. The company meticulously documented, disassembled, and reconstructed the cabin on stone piers as it would have been in the 1820s. Today, the cabin is used as an interpretive site on a limited basis due to the remote location and logistical issues such as lack of storage for demonstration materials, firewood, etc. 29