African American Landmarks of South Bend Indiana Tour

This tour was curated by: Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center

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1. Chalfant Heights Neighborhood

A neighborhood on the city's east side developed by Black realtor William Morris

2. First African Methodist Episcopal Church

First African Methodist Episcopal Church is the first historically Black church to be located on the city's east side. It is located on what is now the corner of Eddy and Campeau streets. The neighborhood was predominantly white when the church was founded in 1907.

3. Olivet African Methodist Episcopal Church

Olivet African Methodist Episcopal Church is the city's first and oldest church founded by South Bend's Black residents. The church was founded by members of the Powell family, the city's first African-American permanent residents.

4. Home of J. Chester and Elizabeth Fletcher Allen

J. Chester and Elizabeth Fletcher Allen were both lawyers and were instrumental in causes involving the fight for justice for African-American residents, including ending discrimination at the Engman Public Natatorium.

5. St. Joseph County Courthouses and Historic Marker

Two courthouses constructed in the mid and late 19th Century. The 1896 Courthouse was the ending point of the march that took place days after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King in 1968. A marker located in front of the 1855 Courthouse honors the historic role that the courthouses played in local civil rights history.

6. Robertson's Department Store

Many older South Bend shoppers recall this locally owned department store. It was more open to African Americans than any other.

7. Central High School

Central High School served as a high school until 1970 and a junior high school until 1976. It was an athletic powerhouse and the city's most racially integrated high school.

8. Hering House

For nearly 40 years - from 1925 until its closure in 1963, the Hering House provided recreation, arts, leadership training and a sense of belonging to generations of Black youth. The building housed a church. Frank Hering, who coached Notre Dame football prior to the hiring of Knute Rockne and his wife Claribel Hering acquired the structure, moved it and then donated it to the city's Black community where it served as a center of cultural activity.

9. "The Lake"-LaSalle Park Neighborhood

Once the only place African Americans could buy land, a local company used it as a dump for toxic waste.

10. Linden School

At first, though most of its students were African American, all Linden School teachers were white. This stayed true until the first teachers of color were hired in 1950.

11. African American Business District (Birdsell and Liston Streets)

When downtown places refused to serve people of color, local people built their own thriving shops.

12. Pilgrim Baptist Church

Pilgrim Baptist Church (116 North Birdsell Street) Site of the city's first African American Baptist church, as well as the founding of the South Bend branch of the NAACP.

13. St. Augustine Catholic Church

When a Catholic Church in the city proved unwelcoming to the city's African-American Catholics, St. Augustine was formed to serve them.

14. Hank's Pool Hall

More than just a place to socialize and play a game of billiards, Hank Hill’s Pool Hall was the center of local Black political power from the 1930s through the 1960s.

15. City Cemetery

The City Cemetery opened in 1832, or 33 years before the city of South Bend was incorporated. At that time, the cemetery's location was near the city's outskirts. However, as South Bend grew it became part of the city center and the final resting place for the town's prominent members. It is also an integrated cemetery that holds the remains of Black residents such as members of the Powell family and white industrialists such as the Studebakers.

16. Dental Office of Dr. Bernard Streets

One of South Bend's first Black dentists, Dr. Streets served African American and Polish patients from his west side office. In addition to serving the community as a dentist, Dr. Streets and his wife Odie Mae (Johnson) Streets worked to secure the civil rights of the city's Black resident through their membership in the NAACP.

17. Civil Rights Heritage Center

The people who ran South Bend’s first indoor, city-owned swimming pool denied entry to African Americans for thirty years. Its transformation into the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center is a powerful symbol of how the past must be bravely recognized and rectified.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

African American Landmarks of South Bend Indiana Tour

Created by George Garner on December 13th 2018, 7:41:56 pm.

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Description

The sites included in the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center African American Landmarks Tour are crucial to obtaining a better understanding of the growth and development of the county's black community from the 1830s through the middle of the 20th Century. The tour includes homes of prominent black leaders, black-owned businesses and institutions such as churches that played a significant role in the history of the area's black residents. The tour was organized by the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center in partnership with the Northern Regional Office of Indiana Landmarks. The tour is underwritten in part by grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Indiana Humanities.

Entries on This Tour

African American Landmarks of South Bend Indiana Tour

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