Taylor's Field
Local Historic District, 1998
Situated within the Monroe Park Neighborhood, Taylor's Field was once owned by Colonel Lathrop Taylor, a South Bend pioneer, merchant, and city co-founder along with Alexis Coquillard.
Originally an area of vacant land, running from the Michigan Road east to a residential area, south of the Birdsell Industrial Plant, Taylor purchased this land from the U. S. Government to be used as investment property. This stretch of land was often utilized for circuses and fairs. The famous evangelist of the early twentieth century, Billy Sunday, preached occasionally at a tabernacle built here.
After Lathrop Taylor died, his children began subdividing the land for development. Taylor's daughter, Mary Taylor Nicar, was among the first to build a house in the neighborhood around 1890.
Created in 1893, the new Taylor's Field subdivision became an upper middle class neighborhood filled with Queen Anne and American Foursquare style homes. Many South Bend pioneers' children settled and built houses in this neighborhood.
Taylor's Field maintained its upper middle class appearance until just after World War II, when numerous houses were converted into apartments. It was designated a local historic district in 1998.