Latest news with #JamesMueller
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
It's South Bend's 160th birthday. From the Potawatomi to today, the city has seen progress
Happy 160th birthday, South Bend! On May 22, 1865, South Bend was incorporated as a city and William G. George was elected the city's first mayor. Current Mayor James Mueller plans to mark the day with a news event, calling on residents to celebrate the city's birth. The St. Joseph Valley had long been occupied by Native Americans. The first permanent European settlers arrived here in the early 1820s. A timeline put together for the city's 150th anniversary in May 2015 outlined the many early changes, including the St. Joseph Potawatomi, the ancestors of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, who settled in the Great Lakes for a millennium and who eventually settled in the 1600s near the St. Joseph River. Europeans like René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and Pierre Navarre, an agent for the American Fur Co., arrived and become the first people of European ancestry to settle here. South Bend would grow steadily. The Rev. Edward F. Sorin founded the University of Notre Dame here in 1842. In 1852, the Studebaker brothers would open a blacksmith shop at the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Michigan Street and would eventually grow it into one of the Big 4 automotive manufacturers in the first half of the 20th century before ceasing local operations in 1963. They would be joined by such major corporations as Oliver Chilled Plow, Bendix Manufacturing Corporation, the South Bend Toy Company, Singer Sewing Machine Company and the South Bend Range Company, among many others. In a South Bend Tribune story from the city's Sesquicentennial celebration in 2015, the staff report said the city appeared quite different than the current configuration. "Many downtown street names were the same as they are today, but in 1865, these dusty dirt roads were lined with small shops and houses made of brick and wood rather than high-rises," the story said. "Horse-drawn carriages ruled the roadways instead of fast-moving automobiles." Since the big 150th birthday bash, the city has only continued to grow in population and pursue new development. Today, the city has 103,713 residents, according to estimated totals from the U.S. Census Bureau as of July 2024 on nearly 42 square miles of area. In the last 10 years, for example, South Bend put forth its mayor as a presidential candidate and later saw him become the transportation secretary, the Morris Performing Arts Center celebrated its 100th anniversary, hundreds of apartment and condo residences have been built or are under construction in the downtown area, in-fill housing has been built or is under construction in other parts of the city, and Howard Park underwent a major renovation that's made it the city's premier park. Happy birthday, South Bend residents. Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@ This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: City of South Bend celebrates 160th anniversary of its charter
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
South Bend Mayor Mueller has March 1 deadline to appoint two to police fire merit boards
SOUTH BEND — Mayor James Mueller is working to appoint two qualified volunteers to serve on the city's police and merit boards, though he has declined to describe the process for identifying candidates. Five commissioners will serve on each board: two appointed by Mueller, two appointed by the local police and fire members and one appointed by the South Bend Common Council. 'The mayor will seek to have as much continuity with the Board of Public Safety as possible,' a city spokesperson told The Tribune Feb. 24. The transition to a merit board is due to the passage in 2023 of state House Bill 1016, which grants a city four options to create separate police and fire merit boards or to reject forming a board. Indiana Code 36.8.3.5, allows merit boards to oversee the hiring and firing, discipline, promotion, and demotions at the police and fire departments, a role currently held by the Board of Public Safety. 'The mayor believed in the good work of the Board of Public Safety, and the state mandated the formation of these new merit boards,' a city spokesperson said by email. Police and fire members, as well as the common council, held an online open application process to narrow down their candidates. When asked what process Mueller used to determine candidates, his office did not disclose his vetting process. A city spokesperson responded saying the mayor is working to make the appointments by the March 1 deadline and will make it known when the appointments are finalized. Mueller's two appointments per board must be of different political affiliations. The Common Council conducted interviews to choose its single appointee to the merit boards. Police members were set to vote in two commissioners on Feb. 7, but voting was delayed because a candidate's name was missing, police said. A vote is rescheduled for March 14 and 17, the amended police resolution says, and the election results will be read at the March 17 closed members meeting. Fire members, who chose to follow the state model which requires two commissioners of different political parties, voted in Democrat Dan Jones, who currently serves as president of the Board of Public Safety, on Feb. 6. The fire board has yet to find a Republican candidate, they said on Feb. 19. As of Feb. 24, the fire merit board ordinance has not been amended to include an upcoming voting date. If fire members aren't able to fill their single spot by March 1, the fire board could function if it reaches a quorum, Adam Taylor, attorney for the fire department, told the Board of Public Safety at the Feb. 19 meeting. Merit boards will likely meet once a month between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., but the schedule is yet to be determined, the Tribune previously reported. Email Tribune staff writer Camille Sarabia at csarabia@ This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend Mayor to appoint two members for police fire merit boards
