Historian Henry A. Verslype points Out that when the t explorer LaSalle brought the first party
of white men through this area in 1679, his two closest companions were Father Hennepin, a Belgian,
and Enrico de Tonti, an italian. Ironically, these nationalities are today the two most recognizable
in our city’s heritage.
Verslype reports that Mishawaka’s population has a higher percentage of Belgian extraction than any
other city in the United States—16 per cent. As early as 1860 ten Belgians were recorded as living in Mishawaka,
and by the 1890 census that had grown to 332—ten percent of the city’s total. Most of these people
came from the northern area of Belgium known as Flanders, a land of coastal plains along the North Sea.
Their native tongue is Flemish.
During the 19th century, economic conditions in Belgium, bound by a rigidly structured guild system,
forced many skilled craftsmen, farmers, and experienced business people to this country.
Mishawaka gained im measurably from this movement.
By the turn of the century, the growing number of Belgian families warranted a Flemish-speaking priest
at St. Joseph’s Church. By 1903 a church of their own was authorized. It was completed and dedicated
in ‘ 1905 as St. Bavo’s Church. The city’s southwest side spawned a bustling Flemish community,
still referred to as “Belgian Town.”
The gathering stormclouds of World War motivated Arthur Verslype to leave Europe in 1912.
Apprenticed as a carpenter since the age of eleven, friends encouraged him to look for
new opportunities in America. Alone in a strange land, unable to speak the language,
his only aid in looking for a job was a small Flemish-English dictionary. Inside the
front cover, scrawled in pencil, are the following words:
Mister Please
don’t you get a job open for me, carpenter
are you carpenter
Yes
Mister please don’t you get a job open for me, anny kind of work, anny kind is all right
In 1923 Verslype brought his family to Mishawaka. Like many immigrant craftsmen,
he had found work with A.C. Colpaert, Belgian builder and developer. Verslype’s
son Henry and pretty Mary Van Poppel were married at St. Bavo’s in 1930.
Mary’s father, Edmund Van Poppel, came to Mishawaka in 1911 and went to work at

the Mishawaka Woolen Mills (“Ball-Band”). Like many other Belgian farmers,
Edmund had experience in the raising of sugar beets, a crop not so well known in this country.
It became standard practice during this period for many Belgians at “Ball-Band”
to take annual leave in order to travel and work the beetfields during the summer season.
Sugar beets harvested, the hard-working Belgians were gladly rehired at
the plant.