Agency, Voice, and the Evolution (AVE) of Women at Saint Mary’s, 1920-2023: Spring 2023

Demographics and Population Growth of South Bend in the 1920s

During the early 1900s, South Bend's population grew rapidly, as did the size of the city. South Bend was an industrialized, prosperous city by the 1920s. By 1920, South Bend's population had increased by almost 20,000 residents. Justin Clark states "In all, South Bend's population increased by 32.2%, from 53,684 in the 1910 Census to 70,983 people in the 1920 Census. The city's population increase "can be credited almost entirely to the industrial development of South Bend" (par. 9). This population growth slowed, however, by the 1960s, when South Bend's population decreased for a period of time. The city of South Bend also gradually became less of a population center in Saint Joseph County. In the 1920s the city of South Bend represented nearly 69% of the total county population; by 1960, it only represented 55.5% of the county's population.

In late 1989, Mayor Joseph Keenan implemented the Mayor's Housing Forum which created ways for South bend to boost housing stock for low- and moderate-income residents. The Mayor's Housing Forum supported making land available for new housing establishments to be built and created while also lessening the property tax burdens on the current South Bend residents. Joe Molnar states "From this recommendation came the Annexation Policy and Plan for City of South Bend. This plan recommended large-scale annexations, which if all enacted, would have doubled the size of the city, and would have included the annexations of most of Clay Township, the University of Notre Dame, and Saint Mary's College" (par. 9). With this growth in population and robust increase in population, women began to play important and critical roles in society. Flappers became popular in the 1920s and women began to take major roles in the workforce. Women began to work as factory workers, servants, teachers, laundresses, typists, salespeople, clerks, bookkeepers, dressmakers and housekeepers, to name a few. The emphasis on the importance of women beginning to become employed in the workforce was remarkable.

This page has paths:

This page references: