South Bend Transportation History: Railroads, Transit, Airports and Roads

South Bend, Indiana · topic

South Bend Transportation History: Railroads, Transit, Airports and Roads

Rail and the South Shore Line, streetcars and buses, airfields, cars and the great roads.

Transportation

§ 18South Bend Railroad History: The Railroads and the South Shore LineSouth Bend was a railroad town almost from the moment it was a town at all, and it stayed one longer than most. The first locomotive reached the bend in October 1851, nineteen years after the town was platted, and…22 entry pages § 19South Bend Public Transit: The Streetcars, the Buses and the Carriage TradeSouth Bend has been carried for hire since 1885, and it has been carried, for most of that time, by one continuous succession of operators. A street railway chartered in the January of 1885 ran the city's first horse…13 entry pages § 20South Bend Airports: Bendix Field to South Bend InternationalSouth Bend has had one airport for almost its whole flying life, but it has had it in two places. The first ground was northeast of the city, a municipal turf field the federal airway bulletins were already listing in…23 entry pages § 10South Bend Automobiles: The Other Marques, the Small Studebakers and the Headquarters CompanySouth Bend's automobile fame is one company's, and that company's record stands whole in the Studebaker section of this history. What stands here is everything else the record holds — and it is a stranger, more various…14 entry pages § 21South Bend's Main Roads: The Corridors That Made and Remade the CitySouth Bend exists because routes crossed here. The river's southern bend was a portage landing first, and every later corridor inherited the geometry: the Michigan Road came up from Indianapolis to the bend and turned…16 entry pages

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Using this page? Copy a credit line. Last updated November 12, 2026.

Source: South Bend Transportation History: Railroads, Transit, Airports and Roads, Moosed History by Project Moosed, https://history.projectmoosed.com/usa/midwest/indiana/south-bend/topics/transportation/

@misc{moosed-transportation,
  title        = {{South Bend Transportation History: Railroads, Transit, Airports and Roads}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://history.projectmoosed.com/usa/midwest/indiana/south-bend/topics/transportation/}},
  organization = {Project Moosed},
  note         = {Moosed History. Last updated 2026-11-12. Accessed 2026-11-12},
  year         = {2026}
}