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South Bend, Indiana, a little more ...

South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County.

The first settlements in the current South Bend area were established as fur trading posts. The first westerner to make permanent settlement was Pierre Frieschutz Navarre in 1820. Navarre arrived on behalf of the American Fur Company. His home was not far from what would become downtown South Bend. Alexis Coquillard, another agent of the American Fur Company, passed through South Bend in 1823 and returned in 1824 with his family to make it his home. At the time, the post was known as Big St. Joseph Station. In 1827, Lathrop Minor Talyor established a post for Samuel Hanna and Company. The area soon became known as St. Joseph's, Indiana as recorded in the Samuel Hanna and Company records. By 1829, the town was growing, with Coquillard and Taylor emerging as leaders. The town applied for a post office, and Taylor was named postmaster later that year. The town was designated as Southold, Allen County, Indiana. The following year, the name of the city was changed to South Bend. This change was in order to ease confusion as several other communities called Southold existed at the time.

In 1831 South Bend was laid out as the county seat and as one of the four original townships of St. Joseph County. Soon after, design began on what would become the town of South Bend.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 39.1 square miles, of which, 38.7 square miles of it is land and 0.4 square miles of it (1.10%) is water.

Additional information provided by: Wikipedia