State INDIANA

MICHIGAN CITY
(regional info)
COMFORT INN MICHIGAN
DAYS INN MICHIGAN CITY
RED ROOF INN MICHIGAN

> more regional information on Michigan City, IN

The 19th century town of Michigan City emerged as a plan before it ever became a settlement.
The plan arose from the ambition to create a harbor on Lake Michigan, and a road to transport
supplies to homesteaders in Indianapolis and central Indiana. In 1830, just 14 years after Indiana
became a state, the land for Michigan City was purchased, sight unseen, by Isaac C. Elston, a real
estate speculator who had made a small fortune in Crawfordsville. He paid about $200 total for
160 acres of land including the future harbor at the mouth of Trail Creek. The town was named
after the road leading up to Lake Michigan.

Early visitors to the region were captivated by its rugged beauty, its abundance of wildflowers
and berries, and especially the majestic sand dunes, one towering to 175-foot height. The land,
however, was not suitable for farming. The growth of Michigan City was due to the flowing waters
of Trail Creek, which afforded good locations for lumber and gristmills. Farmers came from miles
around to have their wheat ground into flour. Other businesses developed rapidly.

By 1836, the year of its incorporation, Michigan City had 1500 residents, a church, post office,
newspaper, and a thriving commercial district with 12 dry goods stores and 10 hotels. It was a
stopping point for stagecoaches. The town had grown to 15 square miles - quite a large town
in the midst of a forested wilderness.

Although some progress was made on the harbor, the project was afflicted by under-funding,
competition from Chicago, political wrangling, shipwrecks and the drifting sands, which kept
clogging the dredged waterways. New methods of transportation also opened up - most importantly,
for Michigan City, the railroads.

In 1852, a major factory was founded here to manufacture railroad freight cars. In 1855, John Barker,
a local grain shipper, joined two New Yorkers in establishing the firm of Haskell, Barker and Aldridge.
It became Michigan City's largest and longest surviving industry, at one time producing 15,000
cars a year. In 1907, Haskell-Barker had 3500 employees; in the 1960's, its payroll was $9 million
a year. Today, the grounds are occupied by Prime Outlets.

Michigan City's earliest settlers came West from Massachusetts and New York. European immigrants,
forced out by crop failures, began arriving to take factory jobs. They tended to cluster in ethnic
enclaves and soon founded their distinctive churches. Thus the New Englanders organized Episcopalian
and Congregational churches, followed by German Lutheran, Irish and Polish Catholic institutions,
and a Jewish Synagogue. So many immigrants came from Syria that Michigan City at one time had
the largest Lebanese population of any American city.

The historic Downtown District has retained the ethnic diversity and rich cultural traditions of 19th
century Michigan City.


OTHER POPULAR DESTINATIONS IN INDIANA

Anderson
Auburn
Bloomington
Clarksville
Columbus
Corydon
Crawfordsville
Elkhart
Evansville
Fort Wayne
Goshen
Hammond
Indianapolis
Jeffersonville
Kokomo
Lafayette
Marion
Merrillville
Michigan City
Mishawaka
Muncie
Plainfield
Plymouth
Portage
Richmond
Seymour
South Bend
Terre Haute
Warsaw