The Churches as Buildings — a Survey

1888 – 2025

The two downtown monuments: The congregations belong to the Religion section; their buildings, at the size the register gives them, are these. The former First Presbyterian Church at 101 South Lafayette Boulevard, at Washington, was built in 1888 to designs of J. P. Bailey, with Christopher Fassnacht as builder, for a congregation organized in 1834 with Horatio Chapin's aid. It is a Richardsonian Romanesque structure of multi-colored fieldstone with rock-faced limestone trim, costing about $35,000, and the Multiple Resource Area nomination calls it the only Richardsonian Romanesque ecclesiastical structure in South Bend; a window on the Lafayette side carries the likeness of a man reportedly the first pastor, the Rev. George Keller. The congregation moved in 1952–53 to its present church at 333 West Colfax — cornerstone laid 1951, the building by Harold A. Waggoner, which won two design awards in 1953 — and the 1888 building, listed in 1985 under the name Former First Presbyterian Church, stood in the nomination's day as the Peoples' Church. A block north, the Cathedral of St. James at 115–117 North Lafayette was built in 1894–95 for the Episcopal parish organized in 1867: ground broken 1 June 1894, the cornerstone laid on St. James Day, 25 July, and the first service at midnight on Christmas Eve 1894, in a Gothic Revival brick edifice designed by Austin & Parker — Ennis Austin's early firm. It became the cathedral of the Diocese of Northern Indiana in 1957, and church and parish hall were listed together in the 1985 batch.

The parish districts and the recent listings: The register's church record is mostly parish-scale. The St. Casimir Parish Historic District (1997) carries the Polish southwest side's church complex as a district; the Christian Science Church of 1916 stands in Chapin Park. Three listings of the last fifteen years widen the record: the Sons of Israel Synagogue at 420 South William Street, listed 25 June 2013; the Lowell Heights–Olivet African Methodist Episcopal Church at 719 North Notre Dame Avenue, listed 6 March 2023; and the St. Adalbert Church Complex at 2505 West Grace Street, listed 19 May 2025 — the newest church building on the county register as this history is written.

Sources:

1. National Register nominations, Downtown South Bend Historic Multiple Resource Area — the Former First Presbyterian Church sheet (Bailey, Fassnacht, 1888, the $35,000 cost, the only-Richardsonian-Romanesque-church judgment, the Keller window) and the Cathedral of St. James listing of 5 June 1985.
2. Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana Archives (Scalar, University of Southern California) — St. James's building chronology: the 1892 decision, the 1 June 1894 groundbreaking, the 25 July cornerstone, the Christmas Eve 1894 first service, the Austin & Parker design, and the cathedral designation of 1957.
3. Building South Bend — the First Presbyterian records for 101 Lafayette and 333 West Colfax (the 1951 cornerstone and Waggoner design).
4. National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Joseph County — the St. Casimir Parish district and the Sons of Israel, Olivet AME and St. Adalbert listings.