The Corporation: A Museum Raised by Hand, 2016–2022

Mishawaka, 2016 to 2022

The Mishawaka Historical Museum was formed the way the historical society saved the mansion: by residents, with their own money, in their spare time. The museum's own account names its founder: Don Heirman, Mishawaka High School class of 1958, a Purdue engineer who spent over three decades at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, retired early, and founded Don Heirman Consultants in 1997. His parents had lived in Mishawaka for over fifty years, and his interest in his hometown, the museum records, "never waned to the extent that he formed the museum to spotlight the city's history and served as its first president." The Mishawaka Historical Museum Corporation's application for IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status was approved on December 13, 2016 — the corporation's first dated paper in the record reached.

Heirman did not live to open its doors: he died on October 30, 2020, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery; the museum's board page holds his name as Founder and Past President, and the museum states that it "honors Don Heirman's memory by fulfilling his vision of a museum for his beloved hometown." Joe De Kever, a founding board member who served as secretary and treasurer and raised funds tirelessly, died on January 28, 2022, weeks before the building was ready. The building itself — a downtown storefront at 121 South Main Street, its earlier commercial course not traced in the record reached — was renovated through 2021 and 2022 with help including a $25,000 matching grant from the Tourism Capital Development Fund, operated by the South Bend Regional Chamber and Visit South Bend Mishawaka. The South Bend Tribune was already covering the museum "taking shape" downtown in January 2021, and in the library's Heritage Room documentary of that season the museum's president and curator, Pete De Kever — the city's Historian Laureate, and Joe De Kever's son — stood before its sign in the window: the museum "will be opening next year on South Main Street."

Principal sources

1. Mishawaka Historical Museum, "About the Museum" and homepage news items (mishawakamuseum.org), read November 2026 — Heirman's founding and first presidency, his death on 30 October 2020, Joe De Kever's founding board service and death on 28 January 2022; the 501(c)(3) approval of 13 December 2016; the $25,000 Tourism Capital Development Fund matching grant.
2. South Bend Tribune, "Mishawaka Historical Museum taking shape downtown," 4 January 2021 (the museum's own link to the article).
3. Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library, Heritage Room documentary transcript, 2021 — De Kever, "president and curator of the Mishawaka Historical Museum that will be opening next year on South Main Street."