The New International Encyclopædia/Mishawaka

MISHAWAKA, mīsh'ȧ-wa̤'ka. A town in Saint Joseph County, Ind., four miles east of South Bend, the county-seat; on the Saint Joseph River, and on the Chicago and Grand Trunk, the Elkhart and Western, and the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railroads (Map: Indiana, C 1). It has good water power from the river, and is noted as a manufacturing centre, the products including windmills, heavy machinery, pulleys, agricultural implements, furniture, church organs and furniture, gasoline engines and launches, paper pulp, flour, and knit felt, and felt boots and rubbers. The government is administered under a charter of 1899, which provides for a mayor, chosen every two years, and a unicameral council. The city owns and operates the water-works and electric light plant. One of the oldest cities in northern Indiana, Mishawaka was settled in 1828 and was incorporated in 1834 as “Saint Joseph Iron Works,” the change to its present name being authorized by special legislative act in 1838. Population, in 1890, 3371; in 1900, 5560.