A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOUTH BEND

My new book, South Bend, Crossroads of Commerce by John Palmer has just been published by Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina: 2003. 160 pages. Softcover. Cost: $24.99 plus $5.00 for shipping/handling. Indiana citizens, please add 6 per cent sales tax.

South Bend, Indiana stood at the crossroads of several major Native American trading routes long before the Europeans, led by the French, arrived form Canada and the East Coast to trade their furs. The city on the southern bend of the St. Joseph River soon became an important commercial center for settlers moving west. Eventually, the University of Notre Dame and Studebaker would call the growing community home.

From the book cover:

John Palmer worked in the Local History/Genealogy Room of the St. Joseph County Public Library for ten years. He is a member of the Northern Indiana Center for History and the South Bend Area Genealogical Society. His compelling narrative, complemented by vivid historic images, is an enlightening and entertaining portrayal of this important Indiana city. Arcadia Publishing, the country's leading publisher of local and regional history books, created the Making of America series to celebrate individual communities and their unique contributions to our national character. Books in this series combine comprehensive narrative histories with a selection of vintage photographs, period maps, and antique postcards.

Chapter Titles:

From the Beginning to Our First Settlers
(from the Ice Age to Early Native American settlement)

Conflict of Empires
(Native Americans, French, British, and Americans in the South Bend area)

At the Bend in the River
(the Founding of South Bend, 1820 - 1850's)

Brother Against Brother
(From the 1850's through the Civil War)

From Swords into Plow Shares
(From the Civil War to the end of the Century)

A New Century
(South Bend in the new Century)

Intolerance
(World War I through 1940)

War and Remembrance
(World War II to the 1950's)

From Hard Times to New Hope
(From the 1950's to the end of the 20th Century)

I will personally sign this book for you and inscribe it in the words you wish.

For any questions e-mail me at:rockingk@michiana.org