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THE RECORD AS IT STANDS · NOVEMBER 2026
What this section could not settle is named, with the source that settles each item, so no gap here is silent:
Tested negative — a branch inside the CDP. Searched: the Bureau's published branch record across the modern era (the Oct 2017 branch-locations map; the October 2014 releases; the FY2019 annual report; the current branch list and place records, read November 2026); the Indiana State Library's directory inventory for the county; the press of record as reached. No Granger-seated branch appears in any of it. Settlers for any contrary claim: the Polk city directories' classified sections for the patronage decades (Indiana State Library microfilm; Ancestry's directory collection); the South Bend Tribune and News-Times full text (St. Joseph County Public Library; Hoosier State Chronicles); the Bureau of Motor Vehicles Commission's branch records.
GAP-BMV-1 — The South Bend branch's seat succession before 2014. The downtown seat at 623 South St. Joseph Street is documented in 2014–2017; its predecessors — the patronage-era counters, their addresses and dates — are not in the record reached. Settlers: Polk classified sections; the Tribune archive; Bureau records.
GAP-BMV-2 — St. Joseph County's patronage-era branch managers. The system's mechanics are documented; this county's holders, administration by administration, are not named in the record reached. Settlers: the Tribune and News-Times files; Polk directories; the BMV Commission's minutes and appointment records. The neighboring counties' documented holders (Nappanee, 1948–50; Marshall County, 28 years) are printed in the patronage article as texture only.
GAP-BMV-3 — The Mishawaka branch's seats before Miracle Lane.Settlers: the Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library's local record; Polk directories; the Tribune.
GAP-BMV-4 — First registrations and first licenses at documented size. The county's plate-allocation ceilings (69,993 under the 1950 scheme; 239,976 under the 1963 scheme) are printed from the plate-history record; actual registration counts for the county — and any count separable for Harris and Clay townships — stand in records not reached. Settlers: the Secretary of State's annual reports (registrations by county); the Bureau's annual reports; the Tribune's 1929 files for the first licensing round.
GAP-BMV-5 — The plate-code conflicts and the branch letters. The 1950 two-letter codes for this county print as BB–BH (plate-history record) and as BB–BK, BN (the ShopLicensePlates key) — unresolved. The 1963 system's branch letter for South Bend is documented (E); Mishawaka's and Walkerton's letters are not in the references reached. Settlers: surviving plates and the ALPCA record; the Bureau's plate-issuance records.
GAP-BMV-6 — Current branch managers. The Bureau's public branch listings reached name no branch manager for Mishawaka or South Bend; the depth standard names the current holder where the record names them, and here the official record reached does not. Settler: the Bureau's organizational record, obtained on request; the Tribune. The Bureau's commissioner is named at pointer size in the modern-course article (Kevin Garvey, as of the Bureau's May 2025 releases).
GAP-BMV-7 — The testing station's distinct course. Driver examination is a branch service in the modern record; whether a separate examiner's or State Police testing post ever served this county apart from the branches is not settled by the record reached. Settlers: Bureau and Indiana State Police records; the Tribune.
GAP-BMV-8 — The South Bend seats' current status. The Bureau's current list as mirrored names 1139 East Ireland Road as the South Bend branch (with kiosk); directories still carry 623 South St. Joseph Street, and one current directory marks Ireland Road closed while the Bureau's mirrors list it open.
GAP-BMV-9 — The automobile-association channel in this county. The Hoosier State Automobile Association's plate-issuing branch service is documented as a state pattern in 1921; whether it operated a counter in St. Joseph County is not in the record reached. Settlers: the Tribune and News-Times of 1921–22; the association's own records.
Sources:
- The searches and sources of the preceding articles, as cited in each; this article consolidates their open items without adding new claims.