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1019 South Michigan <br />Historical Context <br />This property is located on the northwest corner of West Garst and South <br />Michigan Streets, in South Bend, Indiana. It is described as being lot 8 of South <br />Bend City Addition, of South Bend. <br />This two story brick commercial building was constructed by W. W. Schnieder <br />Construction Company in 1928 for Morris Burke, his wife, Meriam and their <br />children, Jacob Burke, Sara Burke Richman and her husband Isadore. The <br />Burke family rented or leased the first floor to a series of businesses and rented <br />the second story out as apartment space. <br />Morris Burke was born in Poland in 1877 and married Merriam Schwartzblat in <br />1899. Mr. & Mrs. Burke moved to South Bend in 1913 from New York, with <br />their three children, Sara, Charles and Yale. Two more children, Anna and <br />Jacob, were born in South Bend. Morris Burke owned "Morris Grocery" on <br />Western Avenue. <br />Jacob Burke, born in South Bend in 1914, graduated from Notre Dame and <br />eventually took over the family grocery business, renaming it, the Jacob Burke <br />Company. Jacob's sister, Sara, was born in Russia in 1904, and married <br />Isadore. Richman in 1926. Isadore and Sara were the owners of D & R Grocery <br />on Mishawaka Avenue. Together the couple help co-found the Sinai Synagogue <br />in South Bend. <br />The first business the Burkes leased the building to was the Belmont Crockery <br />Corporation which occupied the first floor from 1930 to 1940 when it became <br />the Belmont Safes Corporation, selling wholesale bar equipment. Both <br />businesses were owned and operated by Joseph E. Miller and Eber Votaw. Mr. <br />Miller moved the business to a new location in the mid-1940's. At which time <br />James Czolgosz and Harry Zeigler moved the Ace Floor Covering Shop into the <br />recently vacated space. This business occupied the first floor of the Burke <br />Building until 1955 after which the space remained vacant for five years. In <br />1960 the South Bend•Mishawaka Board of Realtors occupied the building for five <br />years. Upon their departure the street level portion of the building remained <br />vacant until 1971 when Niles Paper Products briefly occupied the space. Since <br />then the first floor has remained vacant while the second floor still housed <br />apartments. <br />1 <br />