October 1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

NAI FWM 10.000.4 (In United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OW AA--VVW 1*1 1024-01/ National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet E 17 East Bank Multiple Property Listing Section number Page St. Joseph . County, Indiana Park. Another recommendation concerned the development of St. Louis Boulevard, on the east side of the park. 38 Howard Park, nestled along the St. Joseph River between E. Jefferson and the Grand Trunk Railroad had started life as a mosquito -ridden marsh. In 1878, Timothy Howard, a historian and, at the time, a member of the city council, proposed the city use the site for dumping street and alley fill, with the idea of building up the grade and turning it into a public park. By 1879, title had been obtained and South Bend's first park under city control was established. Slowly, over the years, fill began to reclaim the site and additions of property to the east expanded its size. By 1891 a board of park commissioners was elected and by 1895, the park was named. Dumping ceased, a sea wall and concrete walk were installed along the river and final grading was undertaken. A "landscape artist", Mr. George G. Barker was engaged to lay out the park, and by 1899 all was ready for a grand dedication. 39 • Over the years, gifts of land, from Alexis Coquillard (nephew and namesake of the city's founder) and others expanded the park's boundaries. In 1902, John M. Studebaker gave two city lots and $2,000 with the proviso that the city would purchase additional lots to bring the boundary of the park to the alley west of St.'Louis Street and south of E. Jefferson. Four years later, Mr. Studebaker once again invested in the beautification of the East Bank when he donated an electric bronze fountain to the park.40 The park continued to be expanded to its present eastern boundary along St. Louis Boulevard, as Kessler and many others before him had suggested. Although it has undergone changes and lost its fountain, today the park is the cornerstone of the Howard Park Historic District. With the Jefferson Street Bridge, which is connected at the north, it provides a graceful and refreshing respite in the urban environment of the central East Bank. Architects and Builders of the East Bank The economic incentive provided by the great industrial activity of South Bend during its peak years stimulated building activity, in 38 "Plan for Greater Park System to Cost Thousands", South Bend Tribune, November 30, 1912, p. 15. " Howard, pp. 386-389. • 40 Ibid., pp. 389-391.