2. Taylor's Field 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 Taylor’s Field Historic District Saint Joseph County, IN Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 33 rounded entry walls and stylized coping and trim at the top of the projecting vestibule. Its remaining features are rather restrained. Developmental History/Additional historic context information Taylor’s Field was the name given to an undeveloped portion of land Lathrop Taylor, one of South Bend’s founders, purchased during the 1830s and set aside as an investment and agricultural purposes.36 The land was considered an oak barren and was positioned between the Michigan Road on the west and a residential area on the east, the eastern extent of which is Vistula Road that turns to become Monroe Street on the northeast corner of the district. Michigan Road was a prominent north-south route developed in Indiana between 1829 and about 1838, connecting a port on the Ohio River at Madison with a new port on Lake Michigan at Michigan City. Vistula Road was also an important east-west link across northern Indiana that followed the south bank of the Saint Joseph River, generally, southeast, and then connected to an early route to Fort Wayne. Most of this route would become the Lincoln Highway in 1913. Colonel Lathrop Taylor arrived in Saint Joseph County in September 1827 and worked principally as a fur trader with Native Americans who lived in the region. He continued in the business into the 1840s until the remaining Native Americans had been removed from the area. Taylor was one of the earliest elected officials, holding several offices including the first county Clerk and Recorder as well as being appointed the first postmaster in June 1829.37 The county seat, which was for a brief time at a village known as St. Joseph, was relocated to a village named South Bend, platted by Taylor and Alexis Coquillard, in May 1831. In 1837, Taylor was appointed superintendent to oversee the completion of the county courthouse.38 Taylor lived in the Taylor’s Field district prior to his death in 1887. The middle portion of the district was platted by Joseph Fellows and Hugh Denniston in 1854 and contains many of the oldest residences in the district between Fellows Street on the east and Carroll Street on the west. The 1885 Sanborn map indicates that there were 35 frame dwellings in the plat that is part of the district. A plat by John Rush by 1885 is represented by a narrow corridor on each side of South Street at the east end of the district. After Lathrop Taylor’s death, his heirs platted the former oak barren known as Taylor’s Field in 1893 west of the earlier plats. Of the three heirs, Eliza Wall, Mary Nicar, and Thaddeus Taylor, two would build homes in the district. Thaddeus Taylor constructed his home in 1905 at 531 St. Joseph Street (left side of photo 01). Mary Nicar constructed her home at 617 St. Joseph Street, which was the first house constructed in the new plat but is no longer extant.39 36 South Bend Historic Preservation Commission summary narrative on Taylor’s Field 37 1880 History of St. Joseph County, Indiana. Pg. 332 38 Pg. 368 39 South Bend Historic Preservation Commission summary narrative on Taylor’s Field