by Nelson Price, Society Pilgrimage Chairman
Historic sites in South Bend and Kokomo, including the oldest producer of stained-glass and the tallest university chapel in the country, were the destinations of a Summer Pilgrimage in which nearly forty Pioneers and guests participated. The day-long motorcoach trip unfolded on June 5, 2025, a Thursday.
After departing from Indianapolis, Pilgrimage chairman Nelson Price did commentary aboard the motorcoach as the group traveled north. The first stop was at the historic factory of Kokomo Opalescent Glass, the country’s oldest producer of hand-cast art glass, including stained-glass. Founded in 1888 by an immigrant from France, Opalescent Glass distributes sheet glass internationally; it has created stained-glass windows for churches, businesses and residences across Indiana. The Pioneers subdivided to tour the factory; some members got to interact with artists as they were created their glass products at Opalescent, which is renowned for its hundreds of color recipes and combinations.
The next destination was South Bend, where the Pioneers disembarked on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. The group subdivided again for guided tours by parishioners of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a Neo-Gothic style church built in the 1870s. The Basilica has 44 stained-glass windows, vaulted ceilings and a bell tower that, at 230 feet high, makes it the country’s tallest university chapel. The Basilica is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
While in South Bend, the Pioneers visited a complex that includes three different history-related sites, where the Pioneers enjoyed self-guided tours. At the complex, the Studebaker National Museum showcases South Bend’s largest employer from the 1850s through 1963. Five Studebaker brothers were involved in running the business, which began by making wagons and carriages, then transitioned to cars. At the three-level museum, a vast array of Studebaker-made vehicles are exhibited, ranging from Conestoga wagons, sleds, race cars and military vehicles to U.S. presidential carriages. Among the latter is the carriage that took President and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln to Ford’s Theatre on the tragic night in 1865.
The complex of history sites also includes the Oliver Mansion, a Queen Anne Romanesque house built in the 1890s for leading industrialist J.D. Oliver and his family. He was the president of Oliver Chilled Plow Works; his mansion is a house museum with special exhibits. The Oliver Mansion site includes a recently opened workingman’s cottage, a historic home that conveys how company workers lived 120 years ago.
The third site at the complex is the Northern Indiana History Museum, which has exhibits that explore the region’s heritage. The museum features permanent exhibits about the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, the league of women who were pioneers in baseball during World War II and the focus of the hit movie “A League of Their Own” (1992) filmed in Indiana. South Bend was one of four initial cities to field a team, so the History Museum was chosen to be the repository for artifacts, photos and other memorabilia associated with the league, which lasted 12 years. Coincidentally, during the Pioneers visit, the History Museum also had an intriguing special exhibit about pioneer-era history in northern Indiana.
The Pioneers concluded the Pilgrimage with dinner at Tippecanoe Place, an upscale restaurant located in the historic mansion of Clement Studebaker, one of the brothers who made a fortune in the wagon-making business in the 19th Century. As the Pioneers savored dinner, the manager of Tippecanoe Place talked to the group about the history of the spacious, four-story mansion, which was built in the 1880s and, like the Basilica, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
