On the 17th day of April, 1867, the petition of divers inhabitants of Kiskiminetas and Plum Creek Townships -- that is, of those within the boundaries of the then proposed new township, -- setting forth that they labored under great inconvenience for the want of a new township to be composed of part of those two townships, was presented to the court of quarter sessions of this county.

Whereupon, after considering the same, the court appointed Reuben Allshouse, James Y. Jackson and John Smith viewers or commissioners, to inquire into the propriety of granting the prayer of the petitioners. This report in favor of erected the new township, to be called South Bend, as prayed for by the petitioners, accompanied by a draft thereof, was presented to the court, and ordered to be filed June 4, 1867.

Three days afterward, June 7, the court ordered that an election of the qualified voters of those parts of Kiskiminetas and Plum Creek Townships, within the boundaries of the proposed new township, be held at the usual place of holding elections in the former, on Friday, June 28, then instant, and to be conducted as other township elections, on fifteen days' notice to be given by the constable of Kiskiminetas township. The returns of that special election were made by the election officers, and filed July 1, then next ensuing.

The vote was, for dividing those two old townships and erecting the new one, 152, and against the same, 90. The court thereupon ordered and decreed that the township of South Bend be erected according to law and the lines of division reported by the viewers, and appointed James Fulmer, judge, and James Armstrong and Jonathan Crum, inspectors, to hold and conduct the then next general and spring elections.

The boundaries reported by the viewers or commissioners are: Beginning at a corner of Burrell township, on land of Jacob Hart; thence south 29 degrees east 1 mile and 120 perches to A. Walker's; thence south 2 miles to the top of a hill on I. Horn's land; thence south 34 degrees east 1 mile and 108 perches to the Indiana County line, on or near to land of Robert Elder; thence by Indiana County line north 37 1/2 degrees east 6 miles and 172 perches to a point on land of John Ramsey; thence north 40 degrees west 220 perches on the bank of Crooked Creek, near Reuben Allshouse's (Idaho) mill; thence down said creek north 80 degrees west 150 perches; thence across said creek north 50 degrees west 3 miles on land of Isaac Rowley, deceased; thence south 87 degrees west 1 mile and 97 perches, on land of M. Davis; thence by the line of Burrell township south 15 degrees east 1 mile and 258 perches to Linsbigler's run; thence down said run south 70 degrees west 110 perches; thence south 56 degrees west 64 perches to Crooked Creek; thence 31 degrees west 1 mile and 308 perches to the place of beginning, containing about 23 square miles, to be called South Bend.

The name is derived from a great southern bend in Crooked Creek, the extreme southern part of which is in the southeastern part of the township, about 75 rods from the Indiana County line. Along that portion of that creek in this township some of the earliest settlements by the whites in this county were made.