We visited South Bend on November 10, 2007. The main purpose of the trip was to investigate the current state of the Studebaker works and to photograph the remaining buildings. Not having been there in over 20 years, I was shocked to find how little of the famous "Studebaker One-Profit Plants" remain. By our count, eight buildings remain. Pictures of seven of them are below.
We started at the Administration building on Main Street at West Bronson. The building is in reasonably good shape and appears to be occupied by the South Bend school district.
Photo by John Penrice
Here's a closeup of the window to a corner office on the 4th floor - maybe J.M. Studebakers?
Photo by John Penrice
Across the street is the former paint lab and body sub-assembly facility. It is currently home to South Bend Warehousing and Distribution Corporation.
Photo by John Penrice
A visit to their website revealed they have a LOT of storage space available in this huge complex. So much we suspect they also occupy the huge body and trim fabrication and assembly building next door.
Photo by John Penrice
From there we went down Layfayette past the site of the old Avanti Motors. Avanti occupied 4 buildings including 3 that were part of the Studebaker wagon works, built in 1890. There is no trace of those or any other buildings west of the body sub-assemply building all the way to West Sample street. In their place stands the new St. Joseph County Jail.
Photo by John Penrice
Across the street from the jail we found the former Engineering building standing, now home to the Studebaker Autoparts Sales Corporation (SASCO), the world's largest supplier of Studebaker parts.
Photo by John Penrice
Next door to SASCO is the next Studebaker building to be demolished, the former engine machining facility which was for years home to South Bend Lathe. This is actually two buildings, the smaller one in the foreground being the former industrial relations department.
Photo by John Penrice
Finally we visited the foundry. Noteworthy here is the large field where numerous huge Studebaker buildings once stood. Machine shops, press rooms, assemply plants, storage and shipping facilities all gone without a trace.
Photo by Cameron Penrice
As we approached the foundry we could see the "S" logo near every corner of the building, as well as the fact that most of the windows were broken.
Photo by John Penrice
The years have certainly taken a toll on this building. It would seem a better candidate for demolition than South Bend Lathe.
Photo by John Penrice
Peeking through a broken window we found the foundry building to have more than a few abandoned (stolen?) cars inside. Interesting as the only access we found to the building was a break in the fence just big enough to walk through.
Photo by John Penrice
Venturing into the foundry we found the interior walls to be crumbling.
Photo by John Penrice
This was the end of our tour. To view more pictures click here.