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United States Department of the Interior <br />National Park Service! National Register of Historic Places Registration Form <br />NPS Form 10 -900 OMB No. 1024 -0018 <br />South Bend City Cemetery St. Joseph, Indiana <br />Name of Property County and State <br />Iron gate and fence (structure) <br />The immense cast iron main gate (1899) and fence (1910) marks the terminus of North Elm <br />Street and is just immediately to the west of the sexton's cottage. The gate and fence comprise <br />one contributing object. The fence is 6' -6" in height, consisting of three horizontal channel <br />members with %2" square, vertical bars crossing them at 6" intervals. Alternate vertical members <br />rise the entire height with finials placed on top. The remainder rise only 4', penetrating only two <br />of the horizontal channels. Every 19`h vertical bar is moored into a concrete base and has a <br />supporting bar set at a slight angle against it. The style of both gate and fence is highly <br />decorated Late Victorian with stylized columns, copious finials and other ornamental motifs. <br />The gate was built in 1899 when the public entrance to the cemetery was re- configured to align <br />with North Elm Street instead of Linden Street. To mark the change and to provide a transitional <br />experience from city to cemetery space, the gate was commissioned from the Champion Iron <br />Fence Company, located in Kenton, Ohio. It was designed to include both the date of the <br />founding of the cemetery, 1832, and the dedication of the gate in 1899. The gate design features <br />separate automobile and pedestrian entrances. Both are closed by hinged gates in a picket style <br />topped with elegant finials. The Champion Fence Company (historic name) was founded in <br />Kenton, Ohio by William L. Walker, James Young, William H. Young, B.G. Devore and Henry <br />Price on industrial Franklin Street. After a brief relocation to Pittsburgh, PA in 1877 the <br />company returned to Kenton, Ohio and became known as Champion Iron Fence Company. <br />Since the original fence did not provide the security and appearance needed, the cast iron fence <br />replaced the original, wooden pickets and wood ties laid end to end. Work continued on the <br />significant iron perimeter fence until it's completion in 1910. A chain link fence has been used <br />in a few areas behind residences at LaSalle Court and Linden Avenue. Two other simple gates <br />are located on La Salle Court, likely the original public entrance, and on Linden Avenue, used <br />when Memorial Day and Veterans' Day parades proceeded past grandstands erected for the <br />event just inside the Linden gate (often called LaPorte Avenue gate). <br />The Studebaker Milburn Mausoleum (structure) <br />The Studebaker Milburn Mausoleum was built in 1884 as the final resting place for members of <br />the Studebaker family. The one story structure is of a rectangular shape with projecting wings <br />and is of the Romanesque Revival style with Gothic details; built of rough cut limestone with <br />granite accents. The entry portico is topped with a trefoil arch in the eastern gable end, with <br />supporting columns with Romanesque capitals and stylized cross and columns at the apex. Just <br />below, the date 1884 appears intertwined with a lily, a classic sign of mourning. The interior is a <br />pointed barrel vault of running bond brick, a mosaic floor and biblical inscriptions carved into <br />the granite casket shelves. The mausoleum is now vacant though due to the disinterment of the <br />Studebakers and their removal to Riverview Cemetery in South Bend in 1932. <br />Section 7 page 10 <br />