Singer Brothers Manufacturing Company Historic District

- Chapin Park - East Wayne Street - Edgewater Place -
- Howard Park - Lincolnway East - Muessel-Drewery Brewery -
- North Saint Joseph Street - River Bend - Riverside Drive -
- Saint Casimir Parish - Singer Brothers Manufacturing Company -
- South Michigan Street - Taylor's Field - West North Shore Drive -
- West Washington -

The Singer Brothers Manufacturing Company Historic District is part of the East Bank Mutliple Resource Area. This National Register listing includes two other districts (East Washington and Howard Park) and about twenty-five (25) individual properties such as: Stephenson Mills, the Indiana and Michigan Electric Power Plant and Offices, and Firehouse #3.

The Singer district is an example of a Post-Civil War era manufacturing complex (though some of the original sheds and the watertower were removed). The plant includes a few 2-3 story tall brick industrial buildings, a modern brick building, and E. Madison Street, a brick street. It is located on a flat bluff overlooking the Saint Joseph River annd the East Race. In 1868, the New York based Singer Brothers Company decided to locate the Singer Cabinet Works in South Bend. The area contained a rich supply of fine walnut and oak lumber with which Singer would build cabinets for their sewing machines. South Bend lured the plant away from Mishawaka with the promise of free electric power supplied by the South Bend Hydraulic Company. One of the main players in this accomplishment was Leighton Pine, general manager for the Cabinet Works. Pine was also active in other industrial endeavors in South Bend, and continued his work with Singer by opening plants in Europe and Russia.

The first building located on the site was 425 Ea. Madison, later known as the Riverview Building; 403 Ea. Madison was also constructed in 1868. Both buildings can be described as 19th Century Functional. They have flat roofs, segmental arched window openings, parapet walls with coping, and some detailed brick work. Several additions were constructed in the 1940s.

In 1901, the Singer Company had expanded beyond the capacity of this site and purchased a large tract of land on Division Street (now Western Avenue) for a new plant. By 1907, 10,000 cabinets a day were produced in South Bend, and and by 1914 the company had gained 75% of the world's market of sewing machine cabinets. The company remained in South Bend until 1955. World War II had so greatly disturbed production at the South Bend plant that the company was never able to make the transition from the war-economy to the post-war economy.

In 1906, entrepreneurs looked to the Madison Street complex as a site for automobile production and other types of manufacturing. This included one John J. O'Brien, who published his manual "How to Run a Lathe" in 1907. In 1908, the company created by John and his twin brother Miles, South Bend Lathe, moved into 425 East Madison. It remained in this location until 1965 when the company moved into 400 W. Sample, the former Studebaker Buildings #72, 95, and 141. While located in the Madison Street complex, South Bend Lathe became one of the world's largest producers of metal working precision lathes and sold its products to 137 different countries and territories.

The H.D. Lee Mercantile Company located its plant that served the midwestern and southern portion of Lee Jeans' national distribution in 1917. In South Bend, the company produced Lee Unionalls (overalls), shirts, and jackets until 1964.

The complex served as an erstwhile warehouse and hotel, and in 1977, it became a center for mental health, now known as the Madision Center. It has proven itself a highly adaptable fixture of the East Bank neighborhood, one which has provided services to the community for well over 125 years.