Historic Navarre Cabin's new home will be homestead exhibit at South Bend history museum

SOUTH BEND — Following a prior failed attempt to relocate the historic Pierre Navarre Cabin, The History Museum earned approval Monday to move the structure to its campus in downtown South Bend.

The South Bend-St. Joseph County Historic Preservation Commission voted 6-2 Monday to allow the museum to remove the cabin from Leeper Park, its home since 1904. By this May, the 1820 structure is to move to a small lot west of The History Museum, where it will be the core of an immersive homestead exhibit educating people on the lives of pioneers.

The decision comes as the cabin will endure a third straight winter with a tarp covering its roof, earning it a spot this year on the commission's list of the area's 10 most endangered historic properties. Brian Harding, the executive director of The History Museum, said a new tarp was added in November.

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Built in 1820 by Navarre, a French-American fur trader who was the area's first European settler, the one-room log cabin is believed to be the oldest residence in St. Joseph County.

Two commissioners opposed the move in part because Leeper Park is close to the cabin's original site along the opposite bank of the St. Joseph River, near what's now the North Shore Triangle neighborhood.

“Moving it more than a mile away from the river and that historic area that it was originally from kind of separates it from its historic origins," said commissioner Peter De Kever, president of the Mishawaka History Museum, who voted no alongside commissioner Elizabeth Hertel.

But the old home has been dormant for the last few years after a $150,000 makeover in the early 2000s, Harding said. The History Museum owns the cabin, and he expects the move to allow the museum to better preserve the building and to share its historical significance with the museum's 50,000 yearly visitors.

The cabin's only public use before the pandemic was to host an annual three-day event called "Cabin Days," when local elementary school children would learn about fur trading and the area's Native American history. But school administrators weren't inclined to keep booking those trips because the east side of Leeper Park has no working restrooms, limited parking and ample distractions for the kids by way of nearby Michigan Street and the North Pumping Station, according to Harding.

The superintendents of both Penn-Harris-Madison Schools and the South Bend Community School Corp. sent letters endorsing the cabin's relocation. The St. Joseph County Council and commissioners, as well as the South Bend Common Council and mayor, also supported the move.

The historic preservation commission voted against moving the Navarre Cabin in 2020. Members' concerns were two-fold. By moving out of Leeper Park, the cabin will lose its spot on the National Register of Historic Places, which will temporarily prevent it from earning rehabilitation grants from the government. And its importance to the area revolves around the fur trading outpost Navarre set up along the St. Joseph River, members argued.

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The History Museum won the HPC over this year by promising to apply for "Local Landmark" status for the cabin within 30 days of moving it to its new home. The museum also promised to repair the cabin's roof by the end of 2024. Harding said he expects a new roof to cover the structure by May.

The museum has spent the last decade clearing derelict and abandoned homes from a lot just to the west of its downtown campus, Harding said. After the cabin's settled in there, he said, it will be fenced off and surrounded with displays that help the site to resemble an authentic homestead.

The museum also intends to work with South Bend Venues, Parks and Arts to build a new "site of reflection" in the void left in Leeper Park.

Harding said it will cost about $60,000 to move Navarre Cabin and $140,000 to build the new educational exhibit. Though he guesses the homestead site won't be finished until spring 2026, Harding said, the cabin will be open for tours as soon as it's safe.

Sarah Andrews, the commission's current president, reversed her stance from 2020 by voting in favor of the move Monday night.

She was moved by the knowledge that educational programming likely wouldn't resume if the cabin stayed where it was. As a child, her grandmother made sure she went to "Cabin Days," where she fondly remembers making candles inside of the old home.

"We wouldn’t be here without Pierre Navarre. His entrepreneurship, his ability to collaborate with the Native people of our land, helped us become what we are today," Andrews told The Tribune. "I think it's really important for children to understand that we aren't just Studebaker, we aren't just Bendix … we really are here because of Pierre Navarre and his idea to set up a trading post on the river."

Email South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Historic Navarre Cabin will move to South Bend history museum