The Helmen Family of Helmen Avenue (and Helmen Drive)

There's a Helmen Avenue and a Helmen Drive in South Bend. Neither are named after me.

BY AARON HELMAN // POSTED MARCH 6, 2025

When people who don't live in South Bend meet me for the first time, they usually chuckle when they hear my last name.

“Hellmann?” they ask. “Like the mayonnaise people?”

Alas, no, I am not related to the mayonnaise people. We don't even spell our last names the same. The mayonnaise people carry a superfluous 'L' and append an extra 'N' that doesn't need to be there.

But when I meet someone who does live in South Bend, they usually don't ask about mayonnaise. They just assume I'm of some relation to whoever the namesake of Helmen Avenue is.

But no, I'm not related to that Helmen either, and once again, our names aren't spelled the same. That road name has an second 'E' in it, as if someone tried to pluralize my own last name because my dad and I were in the same room at the same time.

But for as much as my own name has been confused with a South Bend street that I've driven past hundreds of times, I've never actually thought to try to figure out just who those Helmens were...

...until now.

With a name like Helmen, you already knew that the Helmen family who inspired those street signs was from Germany, just like my own Helman name is from Germany. Dig back far enough into the Helmen line, and you'll discover that the name used to be spelled Helmann. Dig back far enough into my own line, and you'll find the same thing.

But that doesn't mean we're related, and indeed, we (still) aren't.

My antecedents came to America from the German town of Oberlustadt - a place in the southwestern corner of Germany near the French border - in the middle 1700s. The Helmen line came 100 years later, and they arrived from Rostock, a town in northern Germany, on the Baltic Sea, near the border with Denmark.

More than 500 miles separate Oberlustadt from Rostock, and they're about as far apart as any two German towns could possibly be.

Friederich Hellman was born in Rostock in 1829, and he died in LaPorte County, Indiana 80 years later. Hellman came to America in 1845, part of a long line of Germans anxious for opportunity in the new world's wide-open spaces. Whether by design or by fortune, Hellman's future wife was on the same boat passage across the Atlantic Ocean, but he wouldn't marry the young woman until after he'd established himself and become an American citizen. The judge who presided over his assimilation Americanized the man's name the way it reads on the street sign: Helmen.

The newly American Frederick Helmen was ready to get married and have a family. He proposed to the woman he'd had his eye on for a while now. She said yes. Her name was Fredericka Gatth.

The two Freds had a life and a farm in LaPorte, and just a few years after their marriage, they started to have children. They named their first son Frederick in 1858.

Fred Jr. learned the farmer's trade from his father, and in 1881 he married Emma Lempke, also from LaPorte. Emma was always destined to marry the man she chose. Both of her parents were named Fred too.

The pair had five children before purchasing farmland just north of South Bend in 1896. The Helmen farm sat just east of the main drag in Roseland and just north of where Douglas Road is now. A straight line drawn from Helmen Avenue would mark the eastern edge of their property. Eventually the property would extend all the way to Cleveland Road. After arriving in South Bend, the couple had another child, a son.

They named him Fred.

The story of how Helmen Avenue got its name is - truthfully - kind of a boring one. It was named that way because that's where the Helmen Farm was. But that's not actually the story we're looking for here, because the real intrigue is figuring how Frederick Helmen the elder got one street named after him...

...and Frederick Helmen the younger got another.

All told, Frederick and Fredericka had six children who each lived impressive lives of their own:

Harry Helmen became a renowned South Bend surgeon. He also served with the Army Medical Corps during World War I. He was a 1913 graduate of the IU Medical School.

Vernon Helmen graduated from Notre Dame's Law School in 1917, saw action during the Great War, and later served as the educational secretary for the South Bend YMCA.

Effa Helmen was a longtime elementary school teacher in South Bend. She passed away in 1983.

Charles Helmen was a South Bend dentist who practiced locally for 38 years.

Erma Helmen retired from Associates Investment Corp. and was a longtime member of the St. Joseph County Historical Society. She passed away in 1992.

Arthur Helman was a farmer and a businessman who moved to Olney, Illinois. He's the only member of the family who didn't stay in South Bend.

But it was Frederick's namesake, Frederick J. Helmen, who might have outdone them all.

Young Fred rose through the ranks to become the chairman of the St. Joseph Bank and Trust Co. He spent 12 years as President of the South Bend school board and another 12 as President of South Bend's Redevelopment Commission. Helmen Drive, a tiny residential road off of Edison Road, is named for this Frederick Helmen; one of a pair of roads that honors a successful son and his proud father.

More than anything else, this Fred Helmen loved South Bend. When he finally retired from the bank, he had this to say about the city he'd spent his life in:

“You know, I love this town - they say to me, 'Now you can travel' - to hell with travel, I love it here, I'm glad to be a part of it.”

So no, we may not be related, but it's good to know that I've got something in common with him.