Around The Bend: Beiger Mansion
Step inside the timeless elegance of Beiger Mansion, where rich history, stunning architecture, and unforgettable stories come together under one roof.
Once home to industrialist Joseph Beiger, this beautifully preserved mansion offers a glimpse into Mishawaka’s Gilded Age while serving today as a charming destination for tours, events, and overnight stays filled with vintage character and modern hospitality.
Around The Bend takes a deeper look into the stories of beloved favorites and hidden gems throughout St Joseph County that make this place unforgettable. These places we cherish didn’t just appear—they were built with passion, purpose, and stories worth telling.
A Mansion of Memories
Walking into the Beiger Mansion is not only like entering a different decade, but a completely different part of the world.
This stunning neoclassical mansion blends the grandeur of early 1900s Newport, Rhode Island elegance with Asian and Mediterranean art and décor, creating an experience that feels both lavish and unexpected around every corner.
The mansion belonged to Martin and Susie Beiger. Martin, along with Adolphus Eberthart patented the first all-knit wool boot with a black band and red ball at the top. This company became Red Ball Band.
Ball Band was very successful, employing nearly 2,000 people in 1903 and growing to 10,000 people in the 1940s. The company was later sold to US Rubber, then Uniroyal.
Martin became Mishawaka’s first self-made millionaire. He and his wife, Susie, decided it was time for a new home.
Though Martin passed away just months into construction in 1903, Susie continued with their plans and the mansion was completed in 1908. The home sat at 21,790 square feet, making it the largest home in Mishawaka at the time, with the most modern accommodations and utilities.
Susie traveled the world purchasing furnishings for the home from Europe to Africa, Asia and beyond. Each room had its own character and décor, yet it all seemed to work together in unison. She passed away in 1927 at the age of 67.
The mansion was place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 after being saved for preservation.
Tragically, January 20, 1975, the mansion burned to the ground. An unsolved mystery that started in the basement, the fire spread quickly and into the dumbwaiter shaft, creating an inferno. Sadly, it was 15 below zero and the fire hydrants were frozen. The mansion, as it was, was lost. All that remained were the limestone walls, chimneys, porcelain fixtures and safes.
Once again, the community banded together to save the gem of Mishawaka. Finally, in 1989, Ron Montandon purchased the mansion. Later joined by Dennis Slade in 2000, they dutifully worked together to restore Beiger Mansion to its original grandeur.
“As you look around the house…every room had a different flavor to it. We just kind of blended it all together,” shared Montandon.
“Amazingly enough, we've looked at some old photos that we have of the house when Susie had done the home, and we have picked pieces that are in certain places that look exactly like something she had. It is uncanny, especially in sculptures,” added Slade.
The coolest part about the mansion? You can spend the night in one of its stunning bedrooms. Beiger Mansion serves as both a charming bed and breakfast and an elegant event space, giving guests the chance to fully immerse themselves in the mansion’s timeless atmosphere.
“We have six guest rooms. We accommodate two adults per room. They all have ensuite baths. And I do breakfast in the morning for guests, and I can do a really great breakfast after 37 years of practice,” quipped Montandon.
If you want a special experience while you stay, this is definitely the place. Between the décor, nine fireplaces and lavish furnishings, (and also LARGE furnishings), you’ll feel like the king or queen of the castle.
“A large house needs large furniture,” said Montandon.
The porcelain fixtures in the bathrooms survived the fire, as did two original Tiffany’s. There were some items that Susie’s family kept for years, that are now housed back in the mansion, to include books as well as journals and ledgers from the Ball Band factory.
The mansion was restored to look as close as possible to the original. Even down to the smallest details.
“When I was working on restoration that wide gold band that goes around there (the ceiling), it's carved vinyl. It's called lincrusta, and it's the original company that made it, and they're still in England, and this is the original pattern that was up there,” shared Montandon.
The home also has modern touches to include paintings by a local Mishawaka teacher, as well as artwork from Montandon himself. An exact fleur de lis sketch pattern from that seen in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame.
This incredibly unique mansion isn’t just a place to look at or a place to stay, but they also host events.
Ironically, Susie loved hosting events during her time living at the mansion. It’s almost kismet that the new mansion holds the same purpose.
“And the nice thing about us in events, which I think we do really successfully, is we're always here,” said Montandon. “We're here for every single event. People expect us to be here. They want us to be here, and we're here. We're here to make sure it goes right.”
“When you came to us, everything would be done here through us, we would take care of everything. Because the goal for a successful event for the host and hostess is to be able to come to the event and not work. Enjoy the event. Just tell us your vision, and it'll be done,” added Slade.
Beiger Mansion has been the host to dozens of annual events. They’ve hosted the Notre Dame glee club for 35 years.
“I mean, it's just everything we do, everything we get involved with, becomes a part of the house. It's about history,” said Slade. “It's about maintaining some sort of regular thing that people can count on. And it has a statement, you know? And that's what I think makes it fun being in Mishawaka and being in this area. We love being in downtown Mishawaka.”
One thing you can count on is that Beiger Mansion will find a way to be home to Mishawaka memories for years to come.
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