Bloomingdale

Bloomingdale, north of the St. Marys River along the Wells Street corridor, is one of Fort Wayne's oldest named neighborhoods. The association's history says it took its name from the broad fields of flowers planted by Jacob Wuersten, a German emigrant; a Fort Wayne Sentinel feature of August 10, 1912, "Do You Know How Your Part of Fort Wayne Got Its Name?", tells the same flower story about a German cabinetmaker at Third and Barthold Streets, father of Mrs. George J. Strodel — the surname is rendered "Western" in the surviving text of the article, and the two spellings are carried here as variants of one tradition, not reconciled. The neighborhood's spine is older than the city around it: in 1803 Captain William Wells was instructed to mark a path from Fort Wayne toward Chicago, which became the Dearborn Trail and then Wells Street. Bloomingdale and neighboring Bowserville were annexed into Fort Wayne in 1871, and the Wells Street Bridge, opened in 1884 — the first iron bridge built over the city's rivers, and itself listed on the National Register in 1988 — tied the neighborhood to downtown.

Its institutions are early: Bloomingdale School began in 1868 at Second and Marion Streets; the Catholic orphanage at 2000 North Wells Street, St. Vincent's Villa, was built in 1886–87 and operated into the late 1970s (its historic district was listed in 1994); Precious Blood Catholic Church opened in 1895, with a parish school added in 1898. Bloomingdale Park's 11.6 acres were acquired by the park board in 1916. The modern association was formed in August 1974 as the Northwest Central Association and took the Bloomingdale name in 1992. Bloomingdale is one of the five associations in the City's Northwest 2035 plan, adopted June 24, 2025. No plat or developer for the neighborhood was found; the 1912 Sentinel itself warned that Bloomingdale, Nebraska, and Spy Run had no legally established boundaries — their lines "are only imaginary."

Sources: Bloomingdale Neighborhood Association history (NeighborhoodLink); Fort Wayne Sentinel, August 10, 1912, via ACGSI; National Register nomination, St. Vincent Villa Historic District (Ref. 94000587); City of Fort Wayne Parks, Bloomingdale Park; City of Fort Wayne, Northwest 2035 plan.