Southeast Side
A southeast neighborhood first platted for a president of Studebaker Corp., the Miami-Ridgedale area is home to one of South Bend's two Frank Lloyd Wright-designed houses and other features for the discerning buyer.
This area has a graceful tranquility of large wooded lots and stately homes, many of brick or stone, which crown the knolls above meandering neighborhood streets. Despite the rich character, you can still buy a home that needs updating in the $250,000 range and a masterpiece of a home can sell for as much as $1,700,000.
Miami-Ridgedale stretches north along Miami from Stanley Clark School to Fairview Avenue and east to Ridgedale and York roads. Within these boundaries, Ridgedale's leafy elegance is now drawing a new generation of young families to the southside neighborhood in easy reach of school, shopping, restaurants and jobs.
In the early 1900s, Albert Erskine, president of the Studebaker Corp., bought property in the area. He platted Ridgedale in the 1920s. Respected South Bend architects Austin & Shambleau designed many of the homes. Styles include French Eclectic, Tudor Revival, Renaissance Revival and Colonial Revival. The 1949 Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Mossberg House Usonian-style structure is outstanding as is the 1958 Otto Seeler-designed International-style Morrison House.
A resident who grew up on Ridgedale and graduated from Riley High School in 1992, moved around Oklahoma, Indiana, Kentucky and the Chicago suburbs, before coming back in 2005. She and her husband settled a half-block from her parents.
"We live in the city but we're still surrounded by old, beautiful trees and winding roads," she said. "The houses are all unique and they have a lot of charm. We like the character of older homes, and the neighbors are very nice."
One family moved to the neighborhood to have more room for their four children. The 1926 home was the draw.
"We needed a bigger house than what we were living in. The house itself is probably the main reason. It is a lovely house, full of character and charm. We wanted to stay on the south side. Our roots are here. We like the schools and attend St. Matthew's."
Nearby schools attract many residents. They include St. Matthew's Catholic School, Stanley Clark School, Rabbi Naftali Riff Yeshiva, along with public Marshall and Jackson intermediate centers and Riley High School. Communities of faith range from the Hebrew Orthodox Congregation to churches such as St. Matthew's Cathedral and Grace United Methodist Church.
"I love the south side," said a Riley graduate, one of four in her class who went to medical school. "The public schools here have done a great job."
"I think Stanley Clark, a private school that goes through 8th grade, is another factor," said one homeowner. "People do settle here for their children to go to Stanley Clark."
The neighborhood is near the Erskine Golf Course at Miami Street and Ireland Road, and a few minutes from the largest retail developments on the south side, including Erskine Village and Erskine Commons.
A father of six who had lived in several other places in the South Bend area bought a five-bedroom house across from the Frank Lloyd Wright house last year. He had been driving his kids to school at St. Matthew's from Granger.
"We'd been hoping to live here for a long time," he said.
"There's just a lot of culture in this neighborhood because the synagogue is close," said another woman. "They are a large part of this community, and they are a stabilizing factor. That's a nice thing to have in the community
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Department of Community & Economic Development
Division of Community Development
227 W. Jefferson Boulevard • Suite 1200 S
South Bend, IN 46601
574.235.9660 • Fax: 574.235.9469
