Potawatomi Park: The Fairgrounds Gift

1905–1906, and the ground since

Lead: The city's third park was the county's fairgrounds. The Parks Department's chronological history dates Potawatomi Park's establishment to 1905, and Beyer's report for 1906 counts the ground among that year's acquisitions: "The most important park property which was added to our park system is the old County Fair grounds, presented to the city of South Bend by the county commissioners for park purposes. This ground is situated on the north side of Mishawaka road just beyond the eastern city limits. It comprises about sixty acres and is a most beautiful piece of rolling and wooded land. This tract will be known as Pottawatomie Park, in honor of the tribe of Indians of that name who formerly inhabited this locality." Howard's own summary says the same thing in a sentence: "Pottawatomie Park, the old county fair grounds between South Bend and the town of River Park." The Farms and Crops history of this record, working from the county side, gives the transfer a date and a smaller measure: the St. Joseph County Agricultural Society surrendered its fairgrounds to the city, and on 3 April 1906 forty acres became the city's public park. The superintendent's sixty acres and the county record's forty are printed as they stand; no source reached reconciles them. The work of 1906 was clearing: "At this park were also placed thirty benches, which were much appreciated," Beyer reports, after the removal of stumps and underbrush.

On this ground the city's second zoo rose from 1921, told whole in the Zoo chapter, and the park grew the system's mid-century furniture: the chronology prices the Potawatomi Pool at $153,000 and the Potawatomi Band Shell at $23,000, both in 1956, records Ella Morris's donation of the funds for the Morris Conservatory, opened in the park in 1964, and prices a companion Morris Pool at $190,000. The zoo's remodel was completed in 2020. The 2021 inventory lists "Potawatomi Park and Zoo" together at 62.18 acres on South Greenlawn Avenue — a figure that stands close to Beyer's sixty of 1906, across a hundred and fifteen years of the park's life.

Sources:

1. Herman H. Beyer, annual report of the park superintendent for 1906, as printed in Timothy E. Howard, A History of St. Joseph County, Indiana (1907–1908), read first-hand (the fairgrounds presentation; the sixty acres; the naming; the 1906 clearing and benches).
2. City of South Bend Venues Parks & Arts, Master Plan Update 2021–2025 (chronology: Potawatomi Park established 1905; the 1956 pool and band shell prices; the Morris Conservatory donation and 1964 opening; the Morris Pool; the 2020 zoo remodel; inventory: Potawatomi Park and Zoo, 62.18 acres).
3. Farms & Crops leg of this record (the Agricultural Society's surrender of the fairgrounds, 3 April 1906, forty acres, from the county record) — the acreage conflict printed, not resolved.
4. Zoo leg of this record (the zoo's founding and course in the park from 1921).