2. Edgewater Place Historic District - National Register Nomination

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Edgewater Place Historic District Saint Joseph County, IN Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 31 the porch, a projecting three-sided bay with cutaway corners, and a full-round arched attic window with wood key. In 1913, Vistula Road became part of the network of routes strung together and designated the Lincoln Highway. Not only was this an important development for the city of South Bend, but continual growth of the city was expanding housing development in all directions. The strip of ground that remained unplatted and undeveloped between the Fuerbringer plat fronting Lincoln Way and the Saint Joseph River would be a desirable site for housing if graded correctly. A small land peninsula was present due to a short inlet of water from the river in the north part of the undeveloped land. The low area was filled in and streets were graded to allow the west side of Edgewater Drive to rise well above the southwest bank of the river. The immediate bank of the river, east of Edgewater, remains mostly open land except for some piers, boat house, and a park feature in the south end of the district (photos 02, 05, 12). An interesting use of the undeveloped portion of the district between Vistula Road and the river also occurred in 1913. By February 1913, talks had begun with the St. Joseph County Evangelical Association of churches in South Bend to have famous religious evangelist, William “Billy” Sunday, hold revival services in the city. Sunday had a residence in Winona Lake, Indiana, and traveled the United States holding services in quickly built wood buildings called tabernacles that could seat 10,000 people. By March 1913, the site that would become Edgewater Place was secured and construction began on the tabernacle. It was completed by mid-April when Sunday first arrived to start services. The services lasted several weeks, and an estimated 600,000 people heard Sunday in South Bend during this time. Throughout the summer of 1913, there were discussions about saving the tabernacle for use as a exhibition hall by the city’s manufacturers or public market, but ultimately it was dismantled and became building materials for a construction company. One notable event during the revival period was a parade held by South Bend businessmen who assembled in various parts of the city then marched to the corner of Monroe and Michigan Streets, then marched eastward down Monroe to Vistula Road, then into the tabernacle grounds.27 L. C. Whitcomb, a partner in the firm that would develop Edgewater Place, was himself a member of the parade committee. When plans were announced for the Edgewater Place subdivision, articles referenced the land as the place where the Billy Sunday tabernacle had been located.28 Subdivision developers Leslie C. Whitcomb and Frederick W. Keller purchased and platted the undeveloped portion of land in 1919 and called it Edgewater Place. The firm of Whitcomb & Keller built over three thousand houses and nearly two dozen subdivisions in the first half of the 20th century, making them the leading developer in the first half of South Bend’s 20th century. An article describing the Edgewater Place venture with a map of the plat appeared in the South Bend Tribune on March 29, 1919. The article states that streets, sidewalks, and trees were to be 27 “Big Crowds of Men to March to Tabernacle” South Bend Tribune 17 May 1913, Pg. 1 Cols. 1-2 28 “Billy Sunday Tabernacle Site Now Platted for Residence Property” South Bend Tribune 29 March 1919. Pg. 10 Cols 3-5