Alexis Coquillard established the first American home in St. Joseph County.
He is usually regarded at the founder of the city of South Bend. Mr. Coquillard
was born in Detroit September 28, 1795. He served in the American forces during
the War of 1812 under the leadership of William Henry Harrison. After the
war, he returned to the St. Joseph Valley where he became an employee of John Jacob
Astor’s American Fur Company. In 1823, Mr. Coquillard built a trading post
on the St. Joseph River. Along with a partner, Francis Comparet, who ran an
associate trading post in Fort Wayne, the two trading posts became the centers of
the fur trade with the Native Americans of northwestern Indiana and southwestern
Michigan.
The Alexis Coquillard Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution was chartered
October 15, 1957.
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