USA > Indiana > Lake County > History Of Lake County (1929) > Part 2
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Howe, Frances R .- Story of a French Homestead in the Old Northwest. Columbus, O. Nitschke Bros. 1907. 165p. maps.
Ogle, G. A. & Co .- Standard Atlas of Porter Co., Ind. Chic. 1906. 83p. ports. maps.
United States. Soils bureau, Dept. of Agriculture-Soil survey of Porter county, Ind. by T. M. Bushnell, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, and Wendell Barrett, Indiana Dept. of Geo- logy. Advance sheets, Field operations, Bureau of Soils, 1916 Wash. Govt. pr. off. 1918. 47p. maps. pamph.
La Porte County
Cannon, Thomas H., Loring, H. H. and Robb, C. J .- History of Lake and Calumet region of Indiana, embracing Lake, Porter and La Porte counties; an historical account of its people and its progress. Associate historians, Charles E. Hayes, W. R. Adams. Indianapolis, Historians Association, 1927. v. 1, Historical; v. 2, Biographical.
Farmer, Phoebe (Weston)-The Captives and other poems. La Porte, Millikan and Holmes, 1856. 236p.
History of LaPorte County, Ind., together with the sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons and biographies of representative citizens. Chicago C. C. Chapman & Co. 1880., 914p. Oglesbee, in History of Michigan City, speaks of Rev. E. D. Daniels of LaPorte and his "laborious preparation of the 'History of La Porte county,' a monumental volume."
Norris, Joseph D. Jr .- Atlas of La Porte Co. Ind., contain- ing maps of villages, cities and townships of the county. La Porte, Printed for author by Wangersheim, Chic. 1907. 110p. maps. port.
Oglesbee, Rollo B. and Hale, Albert-History of Michigan City, Indiana. La Porte, Edward J. Widdell, 1908. 220p. illus. port.
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY
Packard, Jasper-History of La Porte Co. Ind. and its town- ships, towns and cities. La Porte, S. E. Taylor, 1876. 467p. map.
The Kankakee Region
Bartlett, Charles Henry-Tales of Kankakee Land. N. Y. Scribner, 1904. 232p. map.
Burroughs, Burt Edward .- Tales of an old border town and along the Kankakee, a collection of historic facts and personal sketches of the days of the pioneers in Momence, Ill., and the hunting grounds of the Kankakee marsh and "Bogus Island." Fowler, Benton Review, c. 1925. 314p. illus. port.
Reed, Earl Howell-Tales of a Vanishing River, N. Y. Lane, 1920. 266p. illus.
Pfrimmer, Will Wood-Will Wood, (poems). Indianapolis, Sentinel print. Ed. 3, 1899. 145p.
Legend of Grape Island; poems. Watseka, Ill., Times-Dem- ocrat, c1907. 142p.
Skid Puffler, a tale of the Kankakee swamp. N. Y. Holt, 1910. 382p. illus.
Werich, J. Lorenzo-Pioneer hunters of the Kankakee. Printed for the author, c1920. 197p. illus.
The Gary Public Library has what is undoubtedly the strongest collection of Lake County material in the state, but since the library was not established until 1908, seventy odd years after the county came into existence, it lacks very much of completeness for the earlier period.
Friends in the Old Settlers Association and outside it have been kind in adding to our collection, but we appeal again for help. Please notice the gaps in the Ball and Robinson items, listed above. If you can find for the library, some of the miss- ing titles, we will be very grateful.
Pamphlets, old Lake County newspapers any single num- bers before 1905-early maps, society and church publica- tions, old letters, (the Luther collection of Civil War letters recently presented to the Boy Scouts Museum at Crown Point should prove an important item in compiling a county history
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Biography of Lake, Porter and La Porte Counties
of that period), programs, minute books, diaries, printed or manuscript, all have their part in telling the story of Lake County and its progress. Of any gifts of material of this sort, the Gary Public Library will be appreciative. We will welcome the donations and carefully preserve them for future use. Please remember the library when you clear out the attic or your grandfather's desk.
(Editorial Note :-* In addition to the foregoing we may mention the following genealogical and biographical publications: Memories of An- drew S. Cutler (of Creston) by Mrs. Mary J. Cutler (sister of Timothy H. Ball). 267 pp. port. Ill.) A genealogy of the Hayden family (pamphlet.)
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Report of Secretary
BY EMMA HUEHN, Secretary
The last preceding five annual meetings of the Association were held as follows
1924, at Deep River (formerly Wood's Mill), August 16, President August Stommel presiding. The principal addresses were made by Mr. A. J. Smith, of Hobart, and Mr. Frank B. Pattee, of Crown Point. Immediately preceding the regular meeting of the Association the descendants of John Wood and (Hannah Pattee Wood, at their reunion then being held, un- veiled a marker in the form of a boulder, with inscription thereon, erected to the memory of those pioneer ancestors. The usual prizes were awarded. Officers were elected as fol- lows: President, A. J. Smith; Vice-president, Albert Foster; Secretary, Emma Huehn; Treasurer, Mrs. LeGrand T. Meyer, and Historical Secretary, James W. Lester.
1925, at Lowell, August 29, President A. J. Smith presiding. The principal addresses were made by Hon. Schuyler C. Dwyer, of Lowell ,and Hon. C. O. Holmes, of Gary. A prom- inent feature of the meeting was the unveiling of markers to the memory of Jabez Clark and Melvin Halsted, founders of Lowell. The usual prizes were awarded. Officers were elected as follows: President, Albert Foster; Vice-president, John O. Bowers; Secretary, Emma Huehn; Treasurer, Mrs. Le- Grand T. Meyer, and Historical Secretary, James W. Lester.
1926, at the lake front, or Miller Beach, at Gary, August 28, Vice-president John O. Bowers presiding. The principal ad- dresses were made by Father John B. De Ville, of Gary, and Tom Cannon, of Gary, each on Father Marquette, who during his last journey back to St. Ignace and other French settle- ments in northern Michigan, rested for a short time at the former mouth of the Grand Calumet river, near the site of the present bathing pavilion in which this meeting was held. Mr. Frank Borman, a member of and on behalf of the Gary Park Board, presented the Association a site along the south side of the drive-way and east of the pavilion for the erection of a suitable statue of Father Marquette, which, for lack of
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REPORT OF SECRETARY
funds, the Association has been unable to erect. In lieu of a deed Mr. Borman took a twig and some sand from the site and delivered them to the acting president of the Association, after the old English custom of livery of seizin. Officers were elected as follows : President, John O. Bowers; Vice-president, William C. Belman; Secretary, Emma Huehn; Treasurer, Mrs. LeGrand T. Meyer, and Historical Secretary, James W. Lester.
1927, at the Fair Ground, Crown Point, August 27, Presi- dent John O. Bowers, presiding. The principal addresses were made by Mr. Henry S. Davidson, of Whiting, Mr. Darus P. Blake, of Porter county, near East Gary, and Hon. Schuyler C. Dwyer, of Hammond. The usual prizes were awarded. Officers were elected as follows : President, Schuyler C. Dwyer; Vice-president, Frank Borman; Secretary, Emma Huehn; Treasurer, Mrs. LeGrand T. Meyer; and Historical Secretary, Charles Clark.
1928, at the Fair Ground, Crown Point, August 25, Presi- dent Schuyler C. Dwyer presiding. Addresses were made re- spectively by Mr. A. Murray Turner, of Hammond, and Mr. Herbert E. Graham, of Gary. "The Old Settler's Story," by Will Carleton, was recited by Hon. Jesse E. Wilson, of Ham- mond. Mr. John O. Bowers, of Gary, spoke on "Dream Cities of the Calumet Region." The usual prizes were awarded. Of- ficers were elected as follows: President, John B. Peterson ; Vice-president, Jesse E. Wilson; Secretary-Treasurer, Emma Huehn, and Historical Secretary, Arthur G. Taylor.
A committee, composed of John O. Bowers, Arthur G. Tay- lor and Sam B. Woods, was appointed to edit and arrange for publication of the historical papers of the society collected during the past five years, and not heretofore published.
The above-mentioned prizes were usually awarded to per- sons as follows: The oldest man present; the oldest woman present; the oldest man present, born in Lake county; the oldest woman present, born in Lake county; the largest fam- ily present; the largest number of generations in one family present; the oldest Union soldier present; the oldest married couple present; the couple present most recently married ; the youngest baby boy present; the youngest baby girl present, and so on.
Attendance at the meetings has been good.
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Report of Historical Secretary
BY ARTHUR G. TAYLOR
A historical record, such as we publish each five years, to be of value to the oncoming generations, must not only chroni- cle the important events and changes that have taken place, but should also make note of the contributing factors.
In carrying out this idea the writer will attempt to make a survey of our county as it is, at this time, the autumn of 1929.
Lake County is divided into two almost distinct com- munities. A rural section, south of the Lincoln Highway, which with the exception of a small admixture of sturdy in- dustrious German population, is largely of the same colonial stock as obtained during the first twenty-five years of its settlement.
To the north, in the territory sometimes called in the nar- rower sense, the Calumet District, there is a cosmopolitan population. The rapid development of the steel cities in this section attracted unskilled laborers from all parts of Europe. During the past five years negroes from our southland, and Mexicans have partially taken the places of the foreigners of yesterday. Gary now has a negro population composing fourteen per cent of the whole. Twenty per cent of the citizen- ship of East Chicago is made up of these two peoples. Some of the resultant problems will be discussed in another para- graph.
There have been no marked changes in our cities during the past five years. Hammond has absorbed Hessville within its corporate boundaries. Gary is pushing southward and will probably annex Merrillville before another ten-year per- iod has passed by. Gary now claims an estimated population of 110,000. Hammond with an estimated 70,000, and East Chicago with an estimate of over 50,000, aid to bring the es- timated population of Lake County well over the one-quarter million mark. The other cities are Whiting, Hobart, and Crown Point. The time is not far distant when Crown Point and Hobart will be residential suburban cities for industrial
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REPORT OF HISTORICAL SECRETARY
Gary. The remaining incorporated towns are East Gary, Griffith, Schererville, Dyer, Highland, Lowell, Munster and New Chicago. Munster, Highland, Griffith and East Gary are experiencing a rapid growth and will probably be cities within the next ten years unless their corporate existence is cut short by annexation to one of the adjoining cities.
The villages are nearly all in the rural section of Lake County and consist of Merrillville, Shelby, LeRoy, Palmer, Creston, Cedar Lake, Cook (Hanover Center), Ross, Belshaw, Winfield, Brunswick, Lottaville, Ainsworth and Independence Hill. The latter village lies about three miles north of Crown Point and is now several years old. Tolleston, Aetna, Miller Station and Glen Park are now within the Gary city limits.
The taxable wealth of Lake County, according to the Lake County Auditor's report for 1928, amounts to $434,004,275.00. Of this total, North Township pays taxes on a valuation of $207,596,160.00 and Calumet Township on $176,865,455.00.
The industries of our county are nearly all located in the cities lying on the shore of Lake Michigan. Some of Gary's industries are the following: The Illinois Steel Company, National Tube Co., American Bridge Company, American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, The Anderson Company, Gary Sanitary Bedding and Mattress Company, Gary Screw and Bolt Company, Kernchen-Arex Ventilator Company, Schleich- er, Inc., Union Drawn Steel Company, the Walter Bates Steel Corporation, The Pacific Electric Manufacturing Corporation and the Barclay Sign Works.
The combined pay roll of these industries is about $50,000,000 annually. It might be noted that the rail mill of the Illinois Steel Company, the cement plan of the Universal Port- land Cement Company and the tin plate plant of the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, are reputed to be the largest of their kind in the world. The Lake State Glass Company is now building a $500,000 plant in New Chicago, just east of Gary.
Among the larger factories of East Chicago are the fol- lowing: The General American Tank Car Corporation, Amer- ican Steel Foundries, Grasselli Chemical Company, Inland Steel Company, Hubbard Steel Foundry, Republic Rolling Mills Corporation, Roxana Petroleum Company, Sinclair Re- fining Company, Standard Forgings Company, Universal
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY
Portland Cement Company, The Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company and the Graver Tank Works. The Empire people are now building a large oil refinery in East Chicago.
Hammond owes a good deal of its industrial growth to Mr. A. Murray Turner and his business associates, who have lo- cated a large number of factories in Hammond and its en- virons. Among the larger manufacturing plants of Hammond are: The American Maize Products Co., corn syrup, sugar etc .; American Steel Foundries, brake beams, holsters, railway equipment; Frank S. Betz Company, hospital and surgical supplies ; W. B. Conkey Co., printers and bookbinders; Enter- prise Bed Co .; Federal Cement Tile Co., cement tile roofing; Hirsch Shirt Co .; La Salle Steel Co .; Metals Refining Co .; Queen Anne Candy Co .; Paige & Jones Chemical Co., water softeners, filters etc. ; Standard Steel Car Co .; Steel Car Forge Works; Straube Piano Co .; United Boiler Heating and Foun- dry Co., structural steel fabricated erection, castings etc .; Un- ion Tank Car Co .; and Wanner Malleable Castings Company.
New industries locating in Hammond whose plants are not completed, are: The Lever Bros. Soap Co. and the Jones and Laughlin Steel Co.
Whiting's largest industry is the Standard Oil Company's mammoth oil refinery. Hobart has been known for many years as the home of the Kulage Brick Company. At Crown Point we find the Letz Manufacturing Company, The Indiana Leather Specialty Company, The Flashtric Sign Company and the 103 Degree Incubator Company. One of the plants of the National Brick Company is located at Maynard. At Lowell are, one of the factories of the Dearborn Brush Company and the plant of the Sta-Rite Roofing Company, manufacturers of asphalt roofing. Violins are manufactured by the Einsele's at Brunswick. Griffith has a number of manufacturing plants, among which are the Mapes Consolidated Paper Products Cor- poration, The Witness Printing Company, The Keen Foundry Company, McIlroy Belting Company and the Victor Photo Company, manufacturers of flashlight powder. The Calumet Foundry and Machine Co. is the leading factory in East Gary.
This article would not be complete if we failed to record what will probably be one of the greatest factors in the de- velopment of our county; the group of public utilities, parti- ally owned, controlled and directed by Samuel Insull of Chi-
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REPORT OF HISTORICAL SECRETARY
cago. As we understand, this group consists of the following public service utilities in Lake County :
Gary and Southern Traction Company; Gary and Hobart Street Railway; Gary Railways Company; Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad Co .; Shore Line Bus Lines; Midwest Motor Coach Company; Northern Indiana Public Service Company. These various utility companies are gra- dually extending their service throughout the county, either by purchasing existing equipment and rebuilding it or by in- stalling entirely new service. Better service has not only been rendered but, in some instances, the rates have been reduced. In carrying out this program for the development of this re- gion, announcement is made in the press that the Insull in- terests will construct a 1,355,000 horsepower generating sta- tion on the Lake front in North Hammond at a cost of between $75,000,000 and $100,000,000. The first 200,000 horsepower unit of this gigantic project is completed and will be put in operation this year. This station, when completed, it is said, will be the largest steam generating station in the world.
There has not been much improvement in farm conditions during the past five years. The rebuilding of our main high- ways with concrete, the extension of electric power lines to the country, the collection of milk and produce at the farmer's door by automobile trucks and the development of radio broadcasting, have made farm life more pleasant. In general, we are safe in saying that, with the exception of the truck gardener and dairy farmer, very few farmers in Lake County are now making a profit from their farms.
Lake County's financial institutions have kept pace with the development in other lines. The First Trust and Savings Bank of Hammond and the Gary State Bank, have each erected new buildinge of ten stories in height within the past three years. Within the past five years the Peoples State Bank of Crown Point has erected a beautiful new bank building of Indiana limestone. The South Side Trust and Savings Bank in Gary has enlarged its building and rebuilt that part facing Broadway, of granite. We understand that the First National Bank of East Chicago is erecting a large bank building which will be one of the finest structures in that city. Some idea of this development may be gained when we note that the total resources of the banks of Gary alone are over twenty-one mil- lion dollars.
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY
The need for public buildings in Lake County has been amply supplied within the past five years. A beautiful $1,000,000 superior court building at Gary is nearing com- pletion. Two brick wings, one story in height, have been added to the Lake County Court House at Crown Point. A brick Criminal court building has been constructed on a lot adjoin- ing the Lake County jail. An addition has been added to the present jail, almost doubling its capacity. A new brick de- tention home for delinquents and homeless children has been erected on the site of the old detention home, west of the Lake County Court House in Crown Point. The capacity of the Lake County Tuberculosis Sanitorium has been greatly increased by the construction of a new brick wing adjoining the main building on the west. A large brick industrial build- ing has been erected in the Lake County Fair Grounds. The old L. A. Bryan home, known as "Island Park," in Gary has been purchased and remodeled so as to serve as a detention home for colored children.
The educational system of Lake County, under the direc- tion of County Superintendent, A. E. Condon, of Crown Point, probably is not surpassed by any other county in the state. The immense sums of money raised by taxation enable our various boards of education to secure the best available tal- ent. We have kept well to the front rank in our building pro- grams. The new Franklin school in East Chicago and the Horace Mann school in Gary illustrate this. An excellent new school building is under construction at Merrillville, to replace the one destroyed by fire last year. Crown Point will probably erect a new $200,000 school building within the next few years. Mention should be made of the large Gary Public Schools Memorial Auditorium completed last year. Fifteen of the seventeen old one-room rural schools in Lake County have been abandoned and the children are now transported to town- ship graded schools in automobile busses. It is estimated that sixty-thousand pupils will attend our public schools this year.
The church growth in Lake County has not kept pace with the industrial development. The $750,000 First Methodist Church building in Gary, erected in 1927, is said to be one of the finest church buildings in the state. Some of the other churches erecting new buildings during the past five years are: The First Christian Church of Gary; the Glen Park Catholic Church in Gary and the Congregational Church in
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REPORT OF HISTORICAL SECRETARY
Gary. The First Presbyterian Church, of Crown Point was remodeled and enlarged. Stewart House (Methodist Episco- pal) in Gary, which combines social settlement work with Trinity M. E. Church (colored) was completed in 1927. Two fine brick church buildings have been erected at Griffith, one by the Methodists and the other by the Catholics. The Meth- odists in Lowell have built a new church that is a credit to the town. A beautiful new Catholic Church building is under con- struction in St. Michael's parish, at Schererville.
Gary now has four hospitals, Mercy, Methodist, Illinois Steel Company hospital, and St. Antonio's. Both the Meth- odist and Mercy hospitals have recently completed new nurses' homes. Hammond has one hospital, St. Margaret's. A new hospital is being erected in East Chicago. This will be known as St. Catherine's. In addition to these, we have the Lake County Tuberculosis Sanitorium. Dr. Graham's excellent article concerning this will be found elsewhere in this volume.
Lake County, owing to its geographical location, is well sup- plied with steam and electric rail roads. Lake County, in September 1928, had 67.53 mi. of concrete state highway; 4.43 miles of asphalt; 14.39 miles of macadam highway; a total of 86.35 miles of state highways outside of the cities. 29.17 miles of city improved streets were used as state high- ways. The Lincoln Highway was the only concrete highway which had been constructed prior to 1924 and part of that comes within this five year period. There are now 746.85 miles of improved highway in Lake County not maintained by the State of Indiana. Automobile busses now operate on most of these new highways and in many instances are taking the place of the local passenger trains, giving more frequent ser- vice. Aerial transportation is yet in its infancy. Henry Ford, the automobile manufacturer, has purchased some one-thou- sand acres of land on the state line at Maynard to be used as an airport. Small "flying fields" are located at Gary, Merrill- ville and Creston. One of the U. S. Government air mail routes passes diagonally over Lake County from near Shelby to the Northwest. Another aerial mail route from the east passes over Gary and Hammond on the way to Chicago. There have been no new developments in water transporation during the past five years. A great tonnage is handled by the Gary Canal owned by the U. S. Steel Company and the Indiana Harbor
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY
ship canal which connects Lake Michigan with the Great Cal- umet River some three or four miles away.
Among the outstanding improvements in the county during the past five years is the drainage or reclamation of a portion of the Calumet marsh, aggregating about 20,000 acres in ex- tent, part of which area so drained lies in Lake county and part in Porter county. The petition for the drainage was filed in August, 1908, but owing to litigation which followed and finally reached the supreme court of the United States, and consumed several years, the original contractor was unable to proceed with the excavation until prices of labor due to the world war had risen so high that the performance of the con- tract under the compensation stated therein would have meant financial loss. Relief was sought and obtained from the legis- lature; new bids were sought, and a new contract with a different party was made in 1923, about 14 years after the first one. Under the latter contract, together with a few ex- tras, the excavation cost about $335,000. In addition thereto the seven railroad bridges and the four new highway bridges made necessary in consequence of the ditch, a further cost of about $700,000 was incurred, thus making a total cost over $1,000,000. The western wing of the ditch carried the waters of Deep River eastward from its mouth and the eastern wing intercepts the Little Calumet river at the mouth of Salt Creek and carried the waters of the two streams westwardly to the junction with the west wing, and the two united carrying the water into Lake Michigan at a point north of Crisman, in Porter county.
According to government reports and common observation, the water level of Lake Michigan has been about three and one-half feet higher than usual this year. This is the highest level known since 1876. Various public improvements and other construction have been affected by this extraordinary condition.
This region has experienced unusually cold winters for the past two years. A severe sleet storm destroyed the telephone line along the Lincoln Highway on May 2nd of this year.
The need for more recreation has never been felt more keenly than today. Many parks have been opened up in the north end of our County within the past few years. Among these are Lake Front Park and Riverside Park in Gary. Wick-
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