12/02/2025
From today's South Bend Tribune
Preserving, protecting Portage Manor | Opinion
Derek Dieter and Steve Sass
Guest columnists
* The St. Joseph County Council passed a resolution regarding the future of the historic Portage Manor property.
* A local school, St. Thomas More Academy, is willing to invest millions to renovate the building for its use.
* A new nonprofit would preserve the land surrounding the historic structure.
On Nov. 12, 2025, the St. Joseph County Council passed a resolution relating to the future of Portage Manor, the former St. Joseph County home and farm. The resolution recognized the property's natural and cultural history, ecological significance and its potential for educational and recreational benefits to the residents of St. Joseph County.
The resolution also acknowledged that the St. Thomas More Academy, a local school, is willing to initially invest between $5 million and $7 million of its own money to renovate and restore the historic county home (recognized by the Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend and St. Joseph County as one of the city's Top 10 most endangered properties) to convert it into a school and preserve it for posterity.
Finally, the resolution recommends that the county commissioners (who have the ultimate say over the property's future) bring forward the STMA proposal and others to determine their feasibility.
We applaud the council's resolution and desire to protect the historic building and its surrounding 100-plus acres of green space, and urge the commission to do the same. We believe this ecologically and culturally significant property (which has served the residents of St. Joseph County for nearly 120 years) should be stewarded, restored and opened to the public for education and recreation. To date, over 500 area residents have attended community input sessions, hikes and cleanup events (over 1,500 bags of trash removed from the woods), and their feedback has overwhelmingly favored saving the property from development.
Unfortunately, despite years of efforts, the Portage Manor property has not garnered interest from local parks, land trusts, or other conservation entities. Therefore, at a press conference on Nov. 19, we announced our intention to establish a new not-for-profit entity to preserve and protect the land surrounding the historical structure. Unaffiliated with St. Thomas More Academy, we would be neighbors and conservation partners with STMA in ensuring that Portage Manor remains a community asset for generations to come.
Those who came before us bestowed South Bend with an abundance of blighted urban land. Now the burden of responsibility falls to our generation to preserve, restore, and protect what we have left.
St. Joseph County Surveyor Derek Dieter is a former county commissioner. Steve Sass is a local ecologist.
