An orchestra built twice in one year: the Symphony, 1932

1918 - 1972

The two foundings: South Bend's orchestral life began with Frederic Ingersoll, who arrived in 1894 and by 1918 had formed the city's first professional symphony. The Depression killed it: the orchestra folded in 1932. The same year, in the same city, the Australian violinist Edwyn H. Hames built another one from his own string students and professional players, 44 members, and called it the South Bend Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra's musical record stands in the music material; the cultural fact is the refusal embedded in the dates. In the worst year of the Depression, with Studebaker itself sliding toward the receivership of 1933, South Bend did not go without an orchestra for a single season.

Ella Morris, first appearance: In 1935 Ella Morris became the Symphony's president, and under her the student orchestra professionalised. She is the thread of this section, and she enters it here: the president who made the Symphony a professional institution in the 1930s is the philanthropist whose family gift founded the art museum's collection in the 1940s and the woman who bought the Palace for a dollar in 1959. Hames himself was music director for forty years, giving his final concert in 1972. The United States Congress marked the orchestra's standing in the Congressional Record of 29 April 2008, honouring its 75th anniversary and dating its inception to 1932. The Symphony now plays where Ella Morris's third act put it, in the Morris Performing Arts Center, the palace she saved: the orchestra and the room were both hers before they were the city's.

Sources:

1. South Bend Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra's own history page (Frederic Ingersoll's arrival in 1894 and the first professional symphony by 1918; the 1932 folding; Edwyn H. Hames and the 44-member orchestra of 1932; Ella Morris as president from 1935 and the professionalisation; Hames's forty years and his final concert of 1972).
2. Congressional Record, 29 April 2008 (the orchestra's 75th anniversary honoured; inception dated to 1932).