Editing South Bend, Indiana (section)

===First settlements===
The first permanent white settlers of South Bend were fur traders who established trading posts in the area. In 1820, [[Pierre Frieschutz Navarre]] arrived, representing the [[American Fur Company]] (AFC) of [[John Jacob Astor]]. He settled near what is now downtown South Bend.<ref name=Crossroads>{{cite book |title = South Bend: Crossroads of Commerce |chapter = At The Bend In The River |last = Palmer|first=John |year = 2003 |publisher = Arcadia Publishing |isbn = 0-7385-2414-X }}</ref> [[Alexis Coquillard]], another agent of the AFC,<ref name=Crossroads /><ref name=StHistory>{{cite book |title = History of St. Joseph County, Indiana |chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/historyofstjosep01howa |chapter = Chapter XI The City of South Bend |last=Howard|first=Timothy E. |year = 1907 |publisher = The Lewis Publishing Company }}</ref> established a trading post known as the Big St. Joseph Station.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://historymuseumsb.org/the-first-settlers/ |title =The First Settlers |publisher = The History Museum |date = May 24, 1904 |access-date = December 17, 2015 }}</ref> In 1827, [[Lathrop Minor Taylor]] established a post for Samuel Hanna and Company, in whose records the name St. Joseph's, Indiana was used.<ref name=StHistory /> By 1829, the town was growing, with Coquillard and Taylor emerging as leaders. They applied for a post office. Taylor was appointed [[postmaster]], and the post office was designated as Southold, Allen County, Indiana.<ref name=Crossroads /> The following year, the name was changed to South Bend, probably to ease confusion, as several other communities were named Southold 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, Indiana|St. Joseph County]] with 128 residents.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://historymuseumsb.org/early-south-bend/ |title =Early South Bend |publisher = The History Museum |access-date = December 17, 2015 }}</ref> That same year, [[Horatio Chapin]] moved to the settlement, opened the first general store with imported (out of state) goods and helped established the first church and Sunday school.<ref name = Crossroads /> Around the same time, design began on what would become the town of South Bend. The town was formally established in 1835, with Chapin as the first president of the board of town trustees.<ref>J. Palmer, South Bend: Crossroads of Commerce (Charleston, SC, 2003), p. 56</ref> In 1856, attorney Andrew Anderson, Chapin's son-in-law, founded May Oberfell Lorber, the oldest continuous business in St. Joseph County.<ref>[http://www.maylorber.com/ May Oberfell Lorber] Official website</ref> He compiled a complete index of South Bend's real estate records.<ref>{{cite web |title = May, Oberfell & Lorfer |publisher = [[Indiana Historical Society]] |url = http://www.indianahistory.org/our-services/books-publications/hbr/may-oberfell-lorber.pdf |access-date = October 12, 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120913122220/http://www.indianahistory.org/our-services/books-publications/hbr/may-oberfell-lorber.pdf |archive-date = September 13, 2012 |url-status = dead }}</ref>
[[File:Alexis-Coquillard.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Alexis Coquillard]]]]

In 1841, [[Schuyler Colfax]] was appointed St. Joseph County deputy auditor. Colfax purchased the ''South Bend Free Press'' and then turned it into a pro-[[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] newspaper, the ''St. Joseph Valley Register''. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1850, at which he opposed the barring of African American migration to Indiana. He joined the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], like many Whigs of his day, and was elected to Congress in 1855, becoming Speaker of the House in 1863 during the administration of [[Abraham Lincoln]]. In 1868, he was elected vice president under [[Ulysses S. Grant]]. Colfax returned to South Bend after his stint in Washington and is buried in City Cemetery, west of downtown.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=c000626 |title=COLFAX, Schuyler – Biographical Information |publisher=Bioguide.congress.gov |access-date=December 17, 2015}}</ref>