My quest to learn about the history of prairies in St. Joseph County, Indiana led me to discover a couple of interesting local history books: History of St. Joseph County, Indiana (1880), Charles C. Chapman & Co. and A History of St. Joseph County, Indiana. Howard, Timothy Edward, (1907), The Lewis Publishing Company. One of the first quotes that caught my attention was from the former book,
"The prairies, both old and young, for the marshes and beds of former lakes are but incipient prairies, have the richest and most productive soils, and are unexcelled for the raising of all farm produce, except wheat, which winterkills on the lowest grounds. No prairies in the world are more beautiful or fertile than those of St. Joseph county. The finest and largest of these is Terre Coupee in Olive township, over six miles in length, east and west, by four or five miles, north and south. Others are: Portage Prairie, in German township; Palmer Prairie, in Center township; Sumption Prairie, in Greene township; and Harris Prairie, in Harris township. The flood valley of the Kankakee is itself a prairie of the richest and fairest promise, though as yet not fully reclaimed. No more varied, richer or more beautiful farm lands exist anywhere than in this good county of St. Joseph."[1]
I think that our forefathers tended to overstate things at times, but it seemed pretty clear that St. Joseph county did, at the time of European settlement, contain numerous pristine prairie tracts, which cut through the old-growth forests and wetlands in only a way that nature could have dictated. Of the above list of prairies, some I was familiar with, others not, so I decided that further investigation was warranted, which led me to my first prairie investigation - The Palmer Prairie.
The Palmer Prairie was located in Centre Township, on and around the current site of the Southlawn Cemetery, which was originally named Palmer Prairie Cemetery. Unfortunately, early land survey records were sketchy, and we only have an approximation of the precise boundaries of the Palmer Prairie, but we know that the prairie and the cemetery were both named for the Palmer family, who were early settlers to the area, and we do have the written accounts of several of the early settlers.
In particular, 1830 or more precisely, the spring of 1830 seems to be the time in which began the ecological assault upon the natural history of much of northern Indiana.
"In what is now Center township, the following persons settled: In 1830, Andrew Milling, James Palmer and Asher Palmer, from whom Palmer prairie was named, John Rose, Nathan Rose, Jacob Rupel; in 1832, John Smith; in 1833, George Smith, Abiel Hungerford, Tyra N. Bray; in 1834, John Henson, Thomas Jones, Isaac Lamb; in 1835, James Inwood, Richard Inwood, William Phillips." [1]
Between 1832 and 1864, 22 families emigrated into Centre Township, and in the 1875 plat book, all 22 listed their occupation as "farmer". In 1837, John Deere developed and manufactured the first steel plow, and in the 1860s, Scottish emigrant James Oliver locally produced an improved plow design. Both of these innovations made tearing through the thick roots of prairie grasses and forbs much easier, and I suspect that the time period of 1830 to 1870 saw the demise of most of the Palmer Prairie.
 |
| 2007 Photo of Sarah Sass with a Restored Oliver Plow at the Northern Indiana Center for History - South Bend, IN |
So where exactly was the Palmer Prairie and what were its boundaries?
I've searched in vain for early maps that might provide some insight, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to find very much information online on in any of my natural history books. The best early map that I can find is the aforementioned 1875 plat book, which reveals the parcels of the early land owners as well as the locations of some of the historic buildings. I decided to take a drive to the area to see if any clues remained.
 |
| Southlawn Cemetery as Seen in October 2013. There are Said to be Four Civil War Soldiers Buried Here. [1] |
As expected, I wasn't able to find any overlooked nooks that contained prairie grasses or wildflowers on the Southlawn Cemetery landscape. Early pioneer cemeteries can be good sources for prairie remnants, but virtually all modern cemeteries are landscaped with European grasses and non-indigenous trees and "maintained" such as this one is.
However, upon leaving the cemetery, I had an "Ah-Ha!" moment when I was struck by the site of a couple of very old Burr Oak trees (Quercus macrocarpa). Burr Oaks are classic prairie species. In fact, they're one of the only tree species that can survive in a prairie landscape due to their adaptation of having very thick, almost cork-like bark, which would have resisted the grass fires that would have historically taken place in the prairies. Sure enough, these trees were located in what is the oldest part of the cemetery, and it was probably the cemetery itself that saved them from destruction.
 |
| One of Two Historic Burr Oaks (Quercus macrocarpa) Bordering the What Appears to be the Original Grave Sites. |
 |
| Closeup of the Bark of Burr Oak Showing its Adaptation to Resist Fire |
 |
| Massive Trunk of One of Southlawn's Burr Oaks. Burr Oaks are very Long Lived Trees. |
 |
| The Foliage of the Above Pictured Tree |
Later that evening, I began thinking more about these old trees, and I remembered that the St. Joseph County Parks co-sponsors a county-wide "Big Trees" program. Out of curiosity, I looked to see if there was a listing for Burr Oak, which there was, and to my delight, the county "champion" resides just down the road from Southlawn. More living evidence of the prairie, Eureka!
The next day, I took another drive to the area to look for the county champion and a few other things that I wanted to explore. One of the history books mentioned that Centre Township, at one point, had a railroad that passed through it. Consulting several plat books, topographic maps, history books and railroad websites, I was able to determine location of the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad (renamed Vandalia Railroad in 1905) whose tracks were constructed through Centre Township in 1884 and 1885 [3]
"The Vandalia railroad runs north and south through Centre township. Nutwood, a station rather than a town, is located on the railroad. Except this station, the township is purely agricultural. It is the smallest township in the county, containing but twenty sections of land. But the land makes up in quality what it lacks in quantity. The population by the census of 1900, was six hundred and eight." [1]The railroad eventually became part of the Pennsylvania Central Transportation Company. Operations between South Bend and Culver were ceased in 1973, and the tracks were removed in 1974. [4] In some instances, railroad easements can be excellent sources of remnant prairie plants, so I visited a few spots where the railroad would have crossed public roads to look for signs that some indigenous vegetation might have survived tucked away along the easement. Unfortunately, this area is now all private property, and mostly inaccessible. The photograph below is looking south upon the old railroad easement from where it crosses Kern Road. Forty years after being abandoned, natural succession is clearly taking place. If any prairie remnants do remain, they will eventually be shaded out by the tree cover or mowed over by landowners.
 |
| Abandoned Vandalia Railroad Easement at Kern Road |
My next stop was the location of the "county champion" Burr Oak Tree, which lies on private property that is approximately 1.25 miles SW of the above tree. At this site, near the road, I found two Burr Oaks; one of which appears to be dying and the other didn't seem to be nearly as large as the Southlawn trees. It is possible however that the "champion tree" could exist elsewhere on the property.
 |
| Burr Oak on Whitmer Road. Perhaps the Official "County Champion" |
Back on the trail of the Vandalia Railroad, I followed the topographic map north to where I could next pickup the trail, but what I found was that there was no longer any evidence of the old grade. In fact, it was now completely in agriculture, but interestingly enough, the old railroad easement is now an electrical easement.
 |
| Current Electrical Easement as Seen from the Corner of Jackson and Linden Roads. |
About this time, I had another "ah-ha" moment, when I realized where I was. Just behind me was the site known affectionately to birders as the "Old Jackson Road Landfill". This site was recently "discovered" by local birders this past summer as a haven for grassland bird species including the state endangered Sedge Wren and Henlsow's Sparrow along with other conservative, declining species such as Eastern Meadowlark, Bobolink, Dickcissel, and Grasshopper Sparrow.
 |
| Northeast Corner of The Old Jackson Road Landfill |
All of the above listed bird species rely on grassland habitat to breed. Historically, these birds would have been present throughout the Palmer Prairie, but as the grasslands were converted to farmland, these birds would have disappeared from the area. It is quite ironic that their return to Centre Township can be attributed not to conservation efforts, but rather to the fact that nothing can be done with an enormous pile of garbage and toxic waste aside from growing grass on it. Here is a site that is no longer useful to mankind aside from walking bicycling, so in this case, we allow the land to be shared with other creatures.
 |
| Juvenile Dickcissel at the Old Jackson Road Landfill (July 2013 Photo) |
Lastly, in an attempt to sum up what I'd learned about Centre Township, I took an image of a plat map from 1875 and added road names, along with some historic and modern notes.
In the image below, which you can click to enlarge, the green area is the current Southlawn Cemetery of which the original Palmer Prairie Cemetery would have been located within. In 1875 it wasn't officially platted as a cemetery, but if you look closely, there is a small square in the top left of the green area, which is labelled "G.R." I theorized that "G.R." = "Graves", but daughter Sarah pointed out that if that were the case, there wouldn't be a need for the periods. If anyone has another thought, please let me know.
Across from the cemetery, in an area that is now residential, stood the German Baptist Church, which was the first church in Center Township as was described in the 1880 history book:
"At present the township contains but one church organization, the German Baptist. They built their church house in the summer of 1859, on section 2. It is known as the Palmer PrairieSouth of the church, there was a small schoolhouse:
church, in the South Bend district." [2]
"The first election was held in Smith's school-house on section 2. The elections are still held at the same place. The first Justice of the Peace was Mathias Stover." [2]
In closing, here is a quote from Chas. C. Chapman from the 1880 History of St. Joseph County Indiana
"As we look over this beautiful part of St. Joseph county, we can hardly realize that so few years have elapsed since it was a howling wilderness, inhabited only by the wild beasts of the forests, and a race of people almost equally wild."
I suppose that as the saying goes, one man's trash is another one's treasure.
Bibliography
1. Howard, Timothy Edward. A History of St. Joseph County Indiana: Volume 1. Lewis Publishing. Chicago, 1907.
2. Chapman, Chas. C. History of St. Joseph County Indiana. Chapman and Company. Chicago, 1880.
3. richarddeantaylor.com
4. maxinkuckee.history.pasttracker.com
