Until 1970, South Shore Line interurbans served downtown South Bend at LaSalle and Michigan, where there had been a stop since 1908.[3] The city had long wanted to eliminate street running, while the South Shore was looking to reduce costs as passenger traffic declined. The South Shore embarked on a program to consolidate its operations in South Bend. This included constructing the current station building at Meade and Washington and selling the old downtown station building, which had opened in 1921.
On August 7, 1969, South Bend mayor Lloyd M. Allen announced that the railroad would move its station. Allen claimed that for the past five years he had been working to persuade them to move the station.[3] The station opened in 1970.
When Amtrak took over intercity rail service in 1971, it moved intercity rail service in South Bend to this station, away from the larger Union Station.[4][5][6]
In the 1990s, there was some discussion of moving Amtrak to the Union Station.[8] Subsequently, there were plans to build a new Amtrak station component at South Bend Transpo's South Street Station.[9] Ultimately, this never materialized.[10]