The Bicycle's Own Civic History

1896 to the present; at survey size

The political bicycle: Before the trails, the bicycle was a political fact in this city. The Indiana Historical Bureau's survey of the state's 1890s bicycle era, compiled from The Cycle Club Bulletin of 13 June 1896 and the records of the Indiana State Library, lists for St. Joseph County a South Bend Cycle Club — and a trade to serve it: Collmer Brothers, Collman Brothers, Brown Brothers, and the Colfax Manufacturing Company, bicycle businesses all. The club's own further record does not survive in the sources read for this section, and the 1896 listing stands as the wheel era's documented size here.

The documented thread resumes in the ordinance books. "Since 1940, the City of South Bend has had a mandatory bicycle license" — the statement is Mayor Jerry J. Miller's, in his veto message of 20 June 1974, and the file that carries it (Ordinance No. 5686-74, in the City Clerk's own records) preserves a whole civic fight. In May 1974 the Common Council's Public Safety Committee, after hearings at which the Valley Wheelers Club, local bicycle dealers, and parents testified, filed amendments (Ordinance No. 5650-74) strengthening mandatory registration; the mayor's letter records the result a month in: "Bicycle thefts have decreased 29% and the percentage of bicycles recovered and returned has tripled to 33% since the mandatory bicycle registration was put into effect a little over a month ago." A rival ordinance, No. 5686-74, passed 10 June 1974, would have made licensing voluntary and created a Bicycle Fund for safety and facilities; Miller vetoed it on 20 June, arguing a voluntary law "serves little purpose" and that discarding the committee's work would breach the democratic process; on 24 June the council's vote to override fell short, and the veto stood. Mandatory licensing — decal on the seat tube, fees in the record at fifty cents to a dollar by term — remained the city's law.

The modern advocacy era is documented at the same municipal size. Residents named encouraging bicycling a priority in City Plan (2006); Michiana Bike to Work Week was founded the same year, 2006, by a small group of advocates; the Bike Michiana Coalition organized on 8 August 2008 — its bylaws state the date — as the region's nonprofit bicycle-advocacy organization, and in 2010, the year the League of American Bicyclists named South Bend a Bicycle Friendly Community at the Bronze level, the coalition ran its fifth Bike to Work Week. In March 2012 the coalition, with Bike the Bend and Grass Roots Media, donated $5,200 to the city for wayfinding bicycle signs, its president Judy Lee telling the council the coalition had "really promoted bike wayfinding signs and have been very active in getting the bike routes and bike lanes over time"; the city then worked with a bicycle coordinator. The coalition's own account of its giving lists major funding to the Indiana Michigan River Valley Trail among its projects. The trail system's current steward inside city government carries the program name the council's own committee roster prints: My SB Trails.

Sources:

1. Indiana Historical Bureau, "Bicycles in Indiana," The Indiana Historian (the South Bend Cycle Club, from The Cycle Club Bulletin, 13 June 1896; the county's bicycle businesses, from Indiana State Library records).
2. City of South Bend, Ordinance No. 5686-74 file, City Clerk's records (docs.southbendin.gov) (Mayor Miller's veto message of 20 June 1974 — the 1940 mandatory license, the Valley Wheelers hearings, the theft and recovery figures; the ordinance text, its passage 10 June 1974, and the council's 24 June vote sustaining the veto).
3. City of South Bend, Transportation page (the Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community recognition, 2010; City Plan 2006's bicycling priority).
4. Bike Michiana Coalition, bylaws (organized 8 August 2008) and its 2010 Bike to Work Week release (Bike to Work Week founded 2006; the fifth annual week, May 2010).
5. City of South Bend Common Council minutes, 12 March 2012 (the $5,200 wayfinding donation; President Judy Lee's testimony; the bicycle coordinator).
6. Bike Michiana Coalition, 2024 (its major funding to the Indiana Michigan River Valley Trail).