{"id":438,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:48:36","latitude":41.684056900000001633088686503469944000244140625,"longitude":-86.2513216453622817425639368593692779541015625,"title":"Studebaker Plaza","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/5220cc6a316a01ccd579ad222fadd8d0.jpg","address":"201 N Michigan St., South Bend, IN 46601","all_locations":[],"zoom":15,"creator":["Ellen Anderson","Jacqueline Lopez"],"description":"Studebaker Plaza, today a city-owned public space, serves as a reminder of the humble roots of South Bend's industrial age. The enormous Studebaker corporation grew from a small blacksmith shop established on the corner of Michigan Street and Jefferson Boulevard in 1852. Studebaker wagons began the industrial era of South Bend, catalyzing the city’s status as a manufacturing center until the 1960s, when the Studebaker Corporation closed. Studebaker Plaza, which opened in 2013, commemorates their significance. <br /><br /><strong>H &amp; C Studebaker, 1852 </strong><br />The corporation started in 1852 when the eldest Studebaker brothers, Henry and Clement, opened H &amp; C Studebaker Blacksmith Shop on this site. They were later joined by their brothers: John Mohler, Peter Evans, and Jacob Franklin who helped expand the business. The three eldest brothers were born in Pennsylvania to John Clement Studebaker and Rebecca Mohler. The family moved to Ashland, Ohio, birthplace of the younger brothers, in 1835, and opened a blacksmith and wagon shop. As young adults in search of financial opportunities and seeking a shop of their own, Henry and Clement moved to South Bend. The rest of the Studebaker family followed in 1851.<br /><br /><strong>Military Contracts Spark Growth 1850s-1860s</strong><br />A military contract helped transform Studebaker from a small South Bend shop to an industrial factory. It also broke up the founding pair of brothers. Henry and Clement took on a military subcontract to make 100 wagons for the Federal Army in 1857. Once the contract was completed, Henry decided it was against his Dunkard, or German Baptist, beliefs to supply goods for the military. He and Clement solicited younger brother, John Mohler, who had saved up $8,000 making wheelbarrows in California during the Gold Rush, to return to South Bend. John bought out Henry’s portion of the business. Henry retired to a life of farming. <br /><br />During the Civil War, Studebaker supplied the Union Army with wagons, which turned out to be a key business move. Civil War veterans sought out the dependable Studebaker wagons they knew they could trust. In the 1860s the brothers went from manufacturing made-to-order wagons in their small shop to building a large factory south of town for mass production. <br /><br />Growth did not stop there for the Studebakers. Peter built their first wagon “dealership” next to his Goshen, Indiana shop before joining his brothers in South Bend in 1863. By 1868, they chartered their business as the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company with $250,000 in assets, nearly $4 million today.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["100 Years on the Road. The Studebaker Corporation, 1952.","Blasko, Erin. “Studebaker Plaza Opens Downtown.” The South Bend Tribune, 19 Nov. 2013.","Erskine, Albert Russel. History of the Studebaker Corporation. The Studebaker Corporation, 1918.","History of St. Joseph County, Indiana. Charles C. Chapman & Co., 1880.","“History of the Studebaker Family and Company.” The Studebaker Family National Association, <a href=\"http://www.studebakerfamily.org/history/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.studebakerfamily.org/history/</a>.","“Studebaker through the years.” The South Bend Tribune, 5 May 2017.<br />","Young, Jan. The Studebaker History Corner. 2009."],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/5220cc6a316a01ccd579ad222fadd8d0.jpg":{"id":1951,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Studebaker Plaza","description":"Studebaker Plaza was opened  by the City of South Bend as a public space in 2013. | St. Joseph County Public Library | 2 Aug 2019 | Melody Lutz","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/5220cc6a316a01ccd579ad222fadd8d0.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/c7e2de5e3b6306a06d1173a66c65f56b.jpg":{"id":1952,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Studebaker Brothers","description":"The five brothers pose here around 1860, just as their wagon business was beginning to take off. | The History Museum, South Bend, Indiana | ca.1860","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/c7e2de5e3b6306a06d1173a66c65f56b.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/fb9768427f571ae2b767cc4a58414dbf.jpg":{"id":1950,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Wagon Factory","description":"By the 1880s, the Studebakers had moved from their original shop to a large-scale production facility south of town and advertising efforts were in full swing. | SJCPL Local &amp; Family History Business &amp; Industry Archival Collection. <a href=\"https://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/digital/collection/p16827coll9/id/5737/rec/66\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/digital/collection/p16827coll9/id/5737/rec/66</a> | ca. 1882 | Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/fb9768427f571ae2b767cc4a58414dbf.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/05d964c22f0018c2c798dd260898e6e2.jpg":{"id":1949,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Advertising Card","description":"Studebaker sold all kinds of wagons, from farm wagons, to ambulances, to cross-country Conestogas, this colorful advertising postcard is showing off a farm wagon. | SJCPL Local &amp; Family History Business &amp; Industry Archival Collection. <a href=\"https://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/digital/collection/p16827coll9/id/5725/rec/64\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/digital/collection/p16827coll9/id/5725/rec/64</a> | ca. 1880 | Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/05d964c22f0018c2c798dd260898e6e2.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/13f76b5fb948255cbd32cfb5bd414728.jpg":{"id":1948,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Conestoga Wagon","description":"The famous Studebaker Conestoga wagons carried many people west across the United States. This one is on display at the Studebaker National Museum. | Highsmith (Carol M.) Archive, Library of Congress, <a href=\"https://www.loc.gov/item/2016632083/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https://www.loc.gov/item/2016632083/</a> | 30 September, 2016 | Carol M. Highsmith","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/13f76b5fb948255cbd32cfb5bd414728.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/f07da977d8fc07dfa606a0f96375e572.jpg":{"id":3085,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Wagon Shop","description":"This artist’s rendering depicts the original Studebaker wagon shop in downtown South Bend. | Pictorial souvenir of South Bend, Indiana, 1919. Chicago: J.J. McVicker. <a href=\"https://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/digital/collection/p16827coll3/id/503\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/digital/collection/p16827coll3/id/503</a> | 1919","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/f07da977d8fc07dfa606a0f96375e572.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/2a552559f08828a394a627401457e165.jpg":{"id":3086,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"World War 1 Wagon","description":"Although Studebaker made their name by producing wagons for the Union Army in the Civil War, they went on to produce other military wagons, such as this WWI water cart. | Highsmith (Carol M.) Archive, Library of Congress <a href=\"https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016632063/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016632063/</a> | 30 September, 2016 | Carol M. Highsmith","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/2a552559f08828a394a627401457e165.jpg"}}}