Editing South Bend, Indiana (section)

===Establishment and early history===
South Bend was incorporated as a city on May 22, 1865, and its first elections were held on June 5, 1865, with William G. George elected as its first mayor<ref name="StHistory" /> The official city motto, "Peace", refers to the fact that incorporation came in the month following the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] surrender that effectively ended the [[American Civil War]].

Industrial growth was rapid after the Civil War, most notably with the [[Studebaker]] wagon factory, and the [[Oliver Farm Equipment Company|Oliver plow company]]. Good jobs and high wages attracted immigrants from Europe, especially Germans, Irish, and Poles. The majority were Catholic, and they achieved higher rates of social mobility than the same ethnic groups in the Northeast.<ref>Dean R, Esslinger, ''Immigrants and the city: Ethnicity and mobility in a nineteenth century Midwestern community'' (Kennikat Press, 1975).</ref>

Olivet African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church was founded in South Bend in March 1870, making it the first African American church in the city.<ref>{{cite web |title = A LOOK BACK: Blacks shape South Bend |url = http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/a-look-back-blacks-shape-south-bend/article_aa39d4e2-2fb7-5574-8d80-8023b145b2e7.html |website = South Bend Tribune |access-date = December 16, 2015 }}</ref> Olivet AME is still an active African Methodist Episcopal Church, and celebrated its 145th anniversary in 2015.<ref>{{cite web |title = South Bend 150 history timeline |url = http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/south-bend-history-timeline/article_892b9131-779f-5506-8320-e472ba262a49.html |website = South Bend Tribune |access-date = December 16, 2015 }}</ref>

A sergeant from South Bend fired the first American shells against Germany in World War I.<ref>{{Cite journal |title = Indiana Sergeant Fired First Shot |date = October 31, 1917 |journal = New York Times }}</ref>

====History with Ku Klux Klan====
In 1923, the African American owner of a soda fountain received a letter signed "KKK", threatening to kill an African American man held in the city's jail and harm the rest of the city's African American population. Within a few days, over a thousand African Americans fled the city.<ref>{{Cite journal |title = Negroes Leave South Bend in Fear of Klan |date = September 12, 1923 |journal = Chicago Daily Tribune }}</ref>

In 1924, the [[Ku Klux Klan]] held a conference and planned a parade from its local headquarters at 230 S. Michigan St. In preparation, Klan members were posted around town to direct traffic. Students from the nearby [[University of Notre Dame]], aware of the anti-Catholic nature of the Klan, vigorously protested this intrusion, and before noon all of the Klansmen traffic directors had been "unmasked and unrobed." Notre Dame students continued the fight, with several hundred gathering outside of the Klan headquarters, throwing rocks and smashing windows in protest. Local police as well as Notre Dame officials eventually managed to convince them to return to campus.<ref>{{Cite journal |title = Indiana News |last = Smith |first = Alvin |date = May 24, 1924 |journal = Chicago Defender }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title = South Bend Bars Klan Parade After Disorder: Lodge Headquarters are Stormed |date = May 18, 1924 |journal = Chicago Daily Tribune }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title = Klan and Foes Fight in Indiana |date = May 20, 1924 |journal = Chicago Daily Tribune }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dame |first=Marketing Communications: Web {{!}} University of Notre |title=A Clash Over Catholicism |url=https://www.nd.edu/stories/a-clash-over-catholicism/ |access-date=2023-06-26 |website=A Clash Over Catholicism |language=en}}</ref> Notre Dame football coach and athletic director [[Knute Rockne]] became involved in the struggle to calm down the students.<ref>{{Cite journal |title = N.D. Students Pledge to Leave Klansmen Alone |date = May 21, 1924 |journal = Chicago Daily Tribune }}</ref>