Pages in Transit: How Mishawaka Moved Its Library and Preserved Its History

How Mishawaka moved its beloved Carnegie library collection—one cart, one book, one block at a time.

BY ALEC EVANS // POSTED APRIL 9, 2025

On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission commenced lift off to transport humans to the moon's surface. Two days prior, another mission was in its final stages in the heart of downtown Mishawaka.

As the sun rose above the Main Street bridge over the Saint Joseph River, with the lingering chemical smell from Uniroyal hanging in the air, employees of the library on Hill Street prepared for the same cumbersome task that every resident must endure in life: transferring your belongings to a new home.

Mishawaka during the first decade of the 20th century had a problem. Literature was hard to access and came with little breathing room for residents to browse. A public library service was implemented in 1907 after its dissolution in 1900 due to lack of membership and resided in a 28 squarefoot space located on the second floor of City Hall, a space that housed only 1,000 books.

But just a few years later, with funding from the Women's Club, the Men's Civic League, and a donation from the Carnegie Foundation, actions toward better literary accommodations were on the horizon.

A plot of land donated by the Eberhart family located on Hill Street was chosen for the construction of a new library to tend to the growing issue of overflowing pages at City Hall, but before construction, some aspects of the building's design needed adjustment. The summer of 1915, one year before opening, Carnegie's secretary James Bertram stated in a letter to Mishawaka library committee member John Nuner that the basement workspace was larger than needed, the lecture room too small to accommodate guests, and mentioned other minor tweaks to the overall layout. While Nuner and the Mishawaka committee initially argued against some of these changes, both parties eventually came to an agreement and approved Bertram's changes.

Construction started in September 1915 and the Carnegie Library was ready to open on May 5, 1916. What a spectacle the Carnegie was with its intricate terra cotta, flemished bonds for the exterior brickwork, and large leaded glass windows to flood the reading space with sunlight. As readers walked between the limestone pillars at the front entrance, they were greeted with aisles of wooden bookcases housing over 59,000 volumes of literature that promoted a thirst for knowledge.

The history had an adequate home once again, and in the words of John Coxeter from the South Bend Tribune, “If a disaster tomorrow should turn Mishawaka into a 20th century Pompeii, the content of one building could give archeologists of the future a clear understanding of the city's residents.”

The ever-growing population of Mishawaka welcomed the new library with open arms, and an expansion was completed in 1938 to offer additional space for the children's division. Weekly story times became a treasure for local kids. Residents continued to enjoy the space for over 50 years, but by the end of the 1950s the library faced the problem of limited space once again.

During the 1960s, Mishawaka was on a redevelopment spree. The buildings which defined its landscape and industry were beginning to become outdated, and new projects were slated to bring the city to the modern era. The Rohleder-Groff building was one of these decaying landmarks. It was constructed in 1924 and housed multiple businesses under its roof, including the South Bend Tribune for 38 years. With a demolition in the works, this site was enticing to city planners for a potential library.

Plans were drawn by Donlon-Lofgren in 1964 to offer over 25,000 square feet of floor space, and the Lincolnway location was approved for construction in 1966. In keeping with the times, the structure was inspired by the Modernism movement and constructed with a brick exterior and tunnel-like markings etched in white stone as its crown. Finally, the squeezed circulation at the Carnegie was beginning to find a solution in the form of a new home. Now, a new question was posed:

How in the world were they going to get the inventory over to the new location?

On Monday, July 14, 1969, two weeks before the unveiling of the new library, the employees of Carnegie began to transfer books, historical documents, and equipment to the Lincolnway location. Employees in their proper work attire pushed a train of carts along the sidewalk of Lincolnway in the sunny morning weather with business signs hovering above them.

Thankfully, the employees had the assistance of the town's residents at their disposal. To help with the transfer, the Carnegie Library allowed residents to check out as many books as they could and extended the grace period for return so the new library would not be flooded with books during their opening week. Cart by cart, book by book, they slowly moved along.

After thousands of spines sprawled along the streets of downtown Mishawaka, the journey to a new home was finished, and once again the citizens of the Princess City welcomed the new facility with open arms.

Alec Evans is a writer and lived his entire life in Mishawaka. He earned his bachelor's degree in communications from Valparaiso University and works as a Marketing Director.