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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.

Washington Park Zoo
The Washington Park Zoo houses more than 200 species of animals. The Rotary Children's Castle is filled with educational displays for children to learn and enjoy. A special attraction at the Zoo is the observation tower which gives a bird's eye view of Michigan City, and the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
The legislation that authorized Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in 1966 resulted from a movement that began in 1899. Three key individuals helped make Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore a reality: Henry Cowles, a botanist from the University of Chicago; Paul H. Douglas, Senator for the State of Illinois; and Dorothy R. Buell, an Ogden Dunes resident and English teacher. Henry Cowles published an article entitled "Ecological Relations of the Vegetation on Sand Dunes of Lake Michigan," in the Botanical Gazette in 1899 that established Cowles as the "father of plant ecology" in North America and brought international attention to the intricate ecosystems existing on the dunes.
http://www.nps.gov/archive/indu/home.htm

Chellberg Farm
The Chellberg Farm represents a typical 1890 through 1910 Swedish and Northwestern Indiana farmstead. The brick farmhouse was built in 1885 as a replacement for an earlier wood-framed house that was destroyed by fire in December of 1884. The bricks for the new house came from a brickyard in nearby Porter. In the 1980's the National Park Service restored the farmhouse to its turn of the 20th century appearance, except for the dining room, which had been modified by the Chellbergs in the 1920's.
http://www.nps.gov/archive/indu/History/chellberg.htm

A Century of Progress - The World's Fair Homes
The houses were brought to the dunes by barge in 1935 by real estate developer Robert Bartlett. Bartlett hoped that the high profile houses would entice buyers to his new resort community of Beverly Shores. Today the houses are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. One is still occupied under a special park reservation program, known as "Reservations of Use," while the others have been leased to the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, a statewide nonprofit preservation organization. Through this organization, private individuals or families have leased the homes and are rehabilitating them.
http://www.nps.gov/archive/indu/History/Century_of_Progress_homes.htm

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