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Chartered January 1924 — 20400 Darden Road
A conservation club with ground: The sportsmen's club of the record is the Izaak Walton League's St. Joseph County chapter, chartered in January 1924. In 1938 the chapter moved to its Darden Road grounds — one hundred acres, the remaining fifty-odd first leased from Indiana Michigan Power and purchased in 1950 — at 20400 Darden Road. Current listings give the grounds at 120 acres in the chapter's own materials and at more than 130 in others; the figures count the ground differently and are printed as a conflict, not a sum. The chapter marked its hundredth anniversary on April 21, 2024, with its president, Mike Hay, then twenty-four years in the role, on the Tribune's account. Its work stands in the record at the river: the chapter maintains the public St. Joseph River access north of Cleveland Road and carries the Juday Creek advocacy that the Rivers section of this history meets again.
Sources:
- Izaak Walton League, St. Joseph County Chapter, the chapter's own history and listings — chartered January 1924; the Darden Road grounds from 1938, the leased acreage purchased 1950; 20400 Darden Rd.; 120 acres in the chapter's own materials.
- South Bend Tribune, April 2024 — the chapter's hundredth anniversary, April 21, 2024; President Mike Hay, twenty-four years in the role; the river access and Juday Creek work.
- Sportsmen's directories — the Darden Road grounds at more than 130 acres, against the chapter's figure.