Then and now
South Bend, 1863 and today
The 1863 map of St. Joseph County, Indiana, has a plan of South Bend in its corner, with the village of Lowell across the river. Here it is laid over the streets of today. Fade between the two, or drag a line across and see one beside the other.
Other towns: Cassopolis · Niles · Dowagiac · Paw Paw · Goshen · Elkhart · all seven
Drag to move. Scroll, pinch or use the buttons to zoom. The old plan was lined up by hand on street corners that still carry their 1863 names, so it is close but not exact: expect it to be out by a few yards in places.
Things to look for
- Michigan, Main and Lafayette Streets, and the Court House square on Main. Fade to today and the square is still there.
- Water Street and Market Street. Both are still on the ground, under other names. Fade to today and find what they are called now.
- Lowell, across the river: a separate town in 1863, part of South Bend today.
- The great bend of the St. Joseph River, and the bridges across it.
- The Agricultural Fair Ground, and the Cemetery beside the La Porte road at the west edge of town.
- The additions named for the men who laid them out, such as Hendricks & Grant’s. Each name is a lead to a plat in the county’s records.
How this was made
The plan is shown live from the Library of Congress’s image service, at full detail. Eighteen street corners that appear on both maps (Marion, Madison, Washington, Jefferson and Wayne, where they meet William, Lafayette, Main and Michigan) were matched by measurement, and the plan was fitted to them, turning it a fraction of a degree. On average the old corners land within about nine yards of the new ones. The worst is near William Street, which jogs on today’s ground and runs straight on the 1863 plan.
The pale band across the plan is a fold in the paper of the original. Nothing has been painted out.
1863 plan: Map of St. Joseph Co., Indiana, compiled and published by M. W. Stokes (South Bend, 1863), inset “South Bend” and “Lowell.” Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, g4093s.la000168 (item 2013593163). Public domain, shown live from the Library’s image service. Today’s aerial photograph and, once the challenge is solved, today’s names: USGS The National Map (public domain). Today’s streets and water drawn as lines: OpenStreetMap data, © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License.