ABOUT
Acknowledgements
This research would not have been possible without the insight, contributions, and support of Peter DeKever, Mishawaka’s Historian Laureate, and Dr. David Hochfelder, Associate Professor of History at University at Albany, SUNY. Special thanks should also go to Caleb Stinson, Reference Librarian at the Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library, who provided invaluable research materials. Those who provided background and personal experiences should also be acknowledged, such as Michael Lenyo, the unofficial Mayor of Hooligan Heights; Robin Polt, former Hooligan; and the many other Hooligans who informally provided feedback along the way.
Other sources of information include (but are not limited to): the South Bend Tribune; the Mishawaka Enterprise; the Mishawaka Penn Harris Public Library research archives; Mishawaka City Council notes 1904-1908 & 1958-1961; Mishawaka Plat Maps; Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps; the United States Census Bureau; Congressional Hearings for Urban Renewal – 1961; South Bend Housing Market Analysis – 1966; the Urban Renewal Directory of 1974; The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein 2017; maps, tools, and federal HOLC documents from Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America; and many formal and informal interviews with Mishawaka’s current and former Hooligans.
About the Author
Susanna Ernst is a 5th generation Mishawakan, whose ancestors settled in the area ca. 1851. Along with the Ernst family, she is a direct descendant of the Becker and the Hums families. Her great-grandparents, grandparents, and her father and his siblings lived at 114 W. 4th Street (demolished 1973) in the shadow of St. Joseph’s church, where they proudly attended for generations.
Her parents married in 1968 and bought a home in Hooligan Heights in 1971. She was a resident for 18 years.
She is the founder and current president of the Northwest Chicago Historical Society.
