Are Mishawaka and Granger suburbs of South Bend? (Indianapolis, Elkhart: neighborhood, school)

[ColdAilment]

South Bend has always been the dominant city in St. Joseph county, although its population has been sliding slightly in recent years, it's still over twice as large as Mishawaka and over 3 times as large as Granger. Since South Bend is the largest city, and the one with true downtown, not a dead one that hasn't seen any growth in 30 years like Mishawaka, or a nonexistent one in Granger, does that make South Bend the principal city and Mishawaka and Granger suburbs? Or are they just neighboring cities?

[ischyros]

Granger isn't an incorporated city even though places there do have a Granger address. Granger is really just an area. It has no town government or anything. So in that respect, I don't think it is a suburb. It really isn't anything other than an area.

And Mishawaka I wouldn't consider a suburb of South Bend any more than I'd consider St. Paul a suburb of Minneapolis. Yes, South Bend is about twice the size of Mishawaka, but Elkhart is about twice the size of Goshen and I don't think anyone would say Goshen is a suburb of Elkhart. They are all just big cities right next to each other.

[grmasterb]

You don't think South Bend has a dead downtown??

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by grmasterb

You don't think South Bend has a dead downtown??

Compared to Mishawaka South Bend's downtown is lively.

Granger has over 30,000 people living in it. It may not have a town government, but it registers as having all the same statistics as any other city on the census bureau. Suburbs are usually where the middle and upper middle class retreat to, outside of the principal city in the area. Would that not make Granger a suburb of South Bend?

[rdwoelfe]

I don't know how familiar you are with the Indianapolis area, I have seen you have posted in a few of the threads, but I would compare Granger to Center Grove. No town government, but still statistically a town and unlike Center Grove it actually is denoted as a town. Most people that I have ran into just consider Mishawaka and Granger nicer extensions of South Bend, not so much suburbs as part of the larger overall "metro" area.

I will put it this way. When I moved up here I told my friends where I was going and they all looked at me dumb founded until I said South Bend/Notre Dame area. So really it just is basically all the same thing.

[claremarie]

Granger is largely a bedroom community of relatively newish subdivisions scattered among former or current cornfields, with few places of employment, so to some extent it is a "suburb" of South Bend. But there aren't clear lines between any of these communities, and sometimes not even a sign to give you a clue. It's all just one relatively small metro area (including parts of Michigan) that happens to have some separate school/police/library/park systems.

[fallingwater]

I think if you come here from a much larger metro area that has defined burbs, you may want to try and figure out if Mishawaka and Granger are the burbs of South Bend. I think others have described it perfectly. Its just areas around South Bend. My family will ask me all the time if Granger is a burb of South Bend. I tell them no because IMO it is not. Its just an area.

[ColdAilment]

A suburb is a residential area, either existing as part of a city or urban area , or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city .

I would say Granger fits the bill. It's a largely residential area with no town government, it's within commuting distance of South Bend, and I'd be willing to bet many of the people who live there work in South Bend.

Mishawaka I would say happens to be more of a bordering sister city with most of the things you'd expect to find and see in a college town. South Bend is the principal city in the metro area, and Granger's residents commute to South Bend for work. Suburb.

[fallingwater]

Originally Posted by ColdAilment

A suburb is a residential area, either existing as part of a city or urban area , or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city .

I would say Granger fits the bill. It's a largely residential area with no town government, it's within commuting distance of South Bend, and I'd be willing to bet many of the people who live there work in South Bend.

Mishawaka I would say happens to be more of a bordering sister city with most of the things you'd expect to find and see in a college town. South Bend is the principal city in the metro area, and Granger's residents commute to South Bend for work. Suburb.

I disagree because a suburb is generally a residential area immediately outside a larger city. Granger doesn't even border South Bend. It borders Mishawaka, Clay Township and Elkhart.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by fallingwater

I disagree because a suburb is generally a residential area immediately outside a larger city. Granger doesn't even border South Bend. It borders Mishawaka, Clay Township and Elkhart.

A suburb is a town. A subdivision is a residential neighborhood immediately outside a larger city, I hope you're not confusing the two.

So now all suburbs actually have to border the city limits? I wonder how many of Chicago's suburbs actually border the city limits, I wonder how many of the suburbs of Indianapolis actually border the city limits, how many of the suburbs of Columbus actually border the city limits?

Granger is separated from South Bend by barely 3 miles of Mishawaka, that's a pretty narrow strip. Besides, the true definition of a suburb suggests nothing about a suburb bordering the actual city, it's only 3 miles away...I would say that's close enough, it's not as if I'm suggesting Lapaz is a suburb of South Bend.