South Bend, IN

The St. Joseph River turns north near South Bend’s center, creating the southernmost bend that gave the city its name. Long before industrialization, Potawatomi people used the river’s resources, and a short portage connected it with the Kankakee River; La Salle crossed that route in December 1679. South Bend became a city in 1865 and is now the St. Joseph County seat. Its 2020 population of 103,453 made it Indiana’s fourth-largest city. River power supported factories including Studebaker and the Oliver Chilled Plow Company, while Studebaker’s demise and other heavy-industry losses drove economic contraction after the 1960s. The University of Notre Dame was founded just north of town in 1842. Along the river downtown, the East Race Waterway is identified as North America’s first artificial whitewater center.