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St. Joseph County is divided into 13 Civil Townships as follows: Center,
Clay, German, Greene, Harris, Liberty, Lincoln, Madison, Olive, Penn, Portage,
Union and Warren.
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St. Joseph County was organized January 29, 1830 becoming effective April
1, 1830.
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South Bend wasn't always the County Seat.
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The first County Seat was located on a farm owned by William Brookfield a
few miles southwest of South Bend, in German Township, however, it is known
that the first board of justices met at the house of Alexis Coquillard, at
South Bend, and the courts were also held in his house.
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Judge Timothy A. Howard, in his history of St. Joseph County, says:
"Theoretically, the County Seat was for a time on the farm owned by William
Brookfield, at the town laid out by him at the portage of the St. Joseph
River. This town was called St. Joseph. Though named as the first County
Seat, it was never more than a town on paper. The location of the County
Seat at St. Joseph on May 24, 1830, was made by the commissioners under section
3 of the act for the formation of St. Joseph and Elkhart counties."
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By an act of February 1, 1831, five commissioners were named to relocate
the County Seat, which was done September 7, 1831, when South Bend was chosen
as the seat of justice.
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According to the Society of Indiana Pioneers, an individual was a pioneer
of our county if they resided here on or before December 31, 1840.
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Indiana automobile License Plates issued in St. Joseph County start with
the prefix 71 because it is the seventy-first county in alphabetical listing.
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The early log church at Notre Dame was built by Raseen Brown, the son of
Abram and Charlotte Brown. This is the same Raseen Brown who owned the farm
that was sold to the county where the County Home still stands. --
thanks to Marlyn Brown
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