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1972–2006 · THE COUNTY’S PARTNERSHIPS; GRANGER: NONE, BY STRUCTURE
A sister-city partnership is signed by a civic body, and Granger has none: it is an unincorporated census-designated place inside two townships, with no mayor, no council and no corporation to sign for it. The Sister Cities International directory and the general sister-city lists were searched under Granger, Clay Township and Harris Township, and return no partnership for any of the three — the Granger line is empty, and it is empty by structure rather than by neglect, which is exactly how it is printed. The county’s friendship layer belongs to its two cities, and it is small enough to print whole. Mishawaka holds one sister: Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture, Japan — sister cities since 1972 on the Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library’s history of its Shiojiri Room, with the friendship’s roots in a 1964 school letter exchange, the Shiojiri Niwa garden dedicated in August 1987, and the fiftieth anniversary celebrated in 2022. South Bend holds two on the record reached. Częstochowa, Poland, has been South Bend’s sister city since 1992, the relationship established by Mayor Joe Kernan after a visit to Eastern Europe, with delegations exchanged through the 1990s and the tenth anniversary celebrated in Częstochowa in 2002. Arzberg, Bavaria, Germany, is the second: Indiana University South Bend’s account dates the official partnership to 2006, while the newspaper record of the signing visit states the partnership “was formally established by the South Bend Common Council in October 2005” with an Arzberg delegation led by Mayor Winfried Geppert in South Bend at that time — the two datings print whole, unreconciled; the relationship’s roots run to the German settlers of the 1850s, and IUSB students were still visiting Arzberg under it in June 2023. That is the whole layer: three partnerships, two cities, signing dates 1972, 1992 and 2005/2006 — and for the ground this build covers, none, now printed as a tested line rather than left unasked.
Sources: Sister Cities International, Membership Directory (searched for Granger, Clay Township and Harris Township: no entries; South Bend and Mishawaka partnerships as above); Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library, “A History of the Shiojiri Room” (1972 sister-city date; 2022 fiftieth anniversary); City of Mishawaka, Shiojiri Niwa (the 1964 school exchange; the garden’s August 1987 dedication); Nationalities Council, Częstochowa profile (sister city since 1992; Kernan; the delegation years); Indiana University South Bend news, 8 June 2023 (Arzberg partnership since 2006; the 1850s roots) against the South Bend newspaper catalogue record (formally established October 2005) — conflict printed whole.