Studebaker National Museum
429 S Taylor St, South Bend, IN
South Bend, IN
The full sweep of an American company that started making covered wagons and ended making sleek postwar cars, told in the city where it all happened.
The Studebaker National Museum tells the story of one of America's most remarkable companies, in the South Bend city it called home for more than a century. Studebaker began in 1852 as a maker of wagons and carriages, grew into one of the largest wagon builders in the world, and then made the leap into automobiles, producing cars in South Bend until the mid-1960s. The museum's galleries carry visitors across that entire arc, from horse-drawn vehicles to sleek postwar automobiles.
Among the treasures are a set of presidential carriages, including the very carriage that carried Abraham Lincoln to Ford's Theatre on the night he was assassinated. Alongside them stand rows of gleaming Studebaker cars, from early models to the futuristic Avanti, a collection that is both a company history and a window onto how Americans traveled across two centuries.
What Guests Love
- The presidential carriages, including the one Abraham Lincoln rode to Ford's Theatre
- Following one company from Conestoga wagons to postwar automobiles under one roof
- Gleaming classic Studebakers, from early electrics to the streamlined Avanti
- A deep archive and lower-level collection for enthusiasts and researchers
Worth Knowing
- The museum shares a campus with the History Museum, so plan for both if you have time
- It is an indoor collection, good in any weather
- Car buffs will want extra time in the archives and the lower-level vault
- Check current visiting days before you go
Details
South Bend, IN
Learn about Studebaker National Museum
From a blacksmith shop to an empire
South Bend grew along the St. Joseph River in a region that is the homeland of the Potawatomi, including the Pokagon Band, and the Miami (Myaamia). The Potawatomi lived and traded along the river here, and the forced removals of the 1830s, part of the same era that produced the Potawatomi Trail of Death, cleared the way for the town's rapid growth.
In 1852 the Studebaker brothers opened a blacksmith and wagon shop in South Bend. The business boomed, supplying wagons for westward migration, farming, and the military, and by the late nineteenth century Studebaker was among the largest vehicle makers in the world. When the automobile arrived, the company made the transition, building both electric and gasoline cars and becoming a major American automaker.
The cars and the presidential carriages
The museum's automobile collection traces Studebaker's twentieth-century output, including elegant prewar models, sturdy trucks, and the bold, streamlined designs of the postwar years, culminating in the Raymond Loewy-influenced Avanti. Together they show a company that prized both engineering and style.
The carriage collection is a national treasure in its own right. It includes several presidential carriages, most famously the barouche that carried Abraham Lincoln to Ford's Theatre on the night of his assassination, along with carriages tied to other presidents, giving the museum a reach well beyond one company's history.
The end of an era and a lasting legacy
Studebaker stopped building cars in South Bend in the mid-1960s, a hard blow to a city whose identity was bound up with the company. The closure marked the end of more than a century of manufacturing, and the empty plants stood as a reminder of an industrial age that had passed.
Yet the Studebaker name endures in South Bend, honored in the museum, in the surviving factory architecture, and in the memory of generations who worked the lines. The museum keeps that legacy alive and shares it with a national audience of history buffs and car enthusiasts.
Visiting and downtown South Bend
The museum shares a downtown campus with the History Museum, so visitors interested in the wider story of the region can pair the two. Below the main galleries, a lower-level collection and archive reward car buffs and researchers with additional vehicles and material.
South Bend makes a rich base for northern Indiana, with the University of Notre Dame just to the north, the East Race whitewater course downtown, and the crafts and markets of Amish Country a short drive east.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near South Bend
University of Notre Dame
About 3 miles north
The famous campus with the Golden Dome, the Basilica, and the Snite and Raclin Murphy art museums.
The History Museum
On the same campus
Local and regional history, including the Oliver Mansion, on the grounds beside the Studebaker museum.
East Race Waterway
About 1 mile east
A downtown artificial whitewater course on the St. Joseph River, one of the first of its kind in North America.