Mishawaka wins Creating Places grant to embrace history through shoes
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Mishawaka is getting some new kicks.
The city recently wrapped up a fundraising campaign run through the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority’s Creating Places Program that will celebrate Mishawaka’s history through sculptures of shoes.
Specifically, Mishawaka wants to put up a series of replicas of the Red Ball Jet Shoe at various public places across town. Cindy Reinoehl, who works in Mayor Dave Wood’s office, said the idea came from the Mayor’s Youth Council, which wanted a strong visual symbol for Mishawaka.
“It was a collaboration of the students with the mayor just getting together and talking about…Elkhart, having their elks and other cities having sculptures. And what better way to historically bring the Red Ball Jet back to Mishawaka, than by putting this out into Mishawaka,” Reinoehl said.
As of the fundraiser’s end last week, Mishawaka raised over $88,000, and the IHCDA will match with $35,000.
The replica shoes will be made of fiberglass and will stand about four feet high and six feet long. Reinoehl said the city is still working out details on how many shoes will be ordered and where they will be placed. She said one replica shoe will definitely go in the Ironworks Plaza downtown where the Ball-Band factory once stood.
The Ball Jet sneaker first came out in 1951 and was manufactured at the Ball-Band factory. Uniroyal bought the Ball-Band brand and factory in 1971 and shut down production of the shoe.
“Many places, many businesses that we have gone and presented our project to, we get lots of stories about their parents, or even themselves as children going down to the Uniroyal and picking out the Red Ball Jets,” Reinoehl said. “So we get to hear lots of stories about how people remember the Red Ball Jets back to when they were small.”
Uniroyal itself continued on until 1997 and the factory complex was blown up in 2000 to eventually make way for some of downtown Mishawaka’s transformative developments. The Red Ball Jet brand was revived in 2021 and sells the retro-style shoes online.
Reinoehl added that the three high schools in Mishawaka— Mishawka High School, Marion High School and Penn High School—are all sponsoring one of the shoes to go in front of their buildings. The schools and any other sponsors will get give their shoes a custom paint job.
Other possible locations include Mishawaka’s City Hall, the University Park Mall, the Mishawaka History Museum, the Mishawaka Fieldhouse or St. Joseph Hospital.