Visiting Miller Beach's History

THE TM 911 Franklin Street Weekly Newspaper Michigan City, IN 46360 Volume 23, Number 14 Thursday, April 12, 2007 Visiting Miller Beach’s History by Paula McHugh If we were to compare notes about the histories of our neighbor- ing beach communities, Miller Beach would rise above them all. There is a pun in that sentence, and when you read on, you’ll un- derstand. Just days before he passed away in 1675, Pere Marquette passed through what is now Miller on his way to Michigan. He and Joliet had explored the Midwestern riverways two years previously. Land once inhabited by the Potawotomies here was said to have been platted as Indiana City by fur trader Joseph Bailly. When the Na- tive Americans were sent westward after the Treaty of Tippecanoe in 1832, the land south of the lake was purchased for $1600, and early records of the Miller community’s beginning date to 1851. The town had been known as Millers, Millers Station, Miller Junction, and eventually evolved to its current Miller Beach. The mouth of the Grand Calumet River once lay east of the bronze monument of Father Marquette. The statue of the pious man holding aloft a cross has welcomed hundreds of thousands of beachgoers to Marquette Park. The statue at the park’s gateway was sculpted by Henry Hering and erected in 1932. Those of us teens who took the bus years ago from downtown Gary to Miller Beach never really cared about the history of the place. We were on our way to Mar- quette Park for a day of fun in the sun. The generation before us might have remembered the place as “Lakefront Park.” U.S. Steel gave the once-swampy land to the city of Gary in 1919. But wait. We’re getting ahead of the history lesson. A decade before the turn of the 20th century, Miller consisted of 22 houses, a schoolhouse, a railroad The statue of the pious man holding aloft a cross, station and two saloons. Two side- Pere Marquette, has welcomed hundreds of thousands of walks existed and several streets beachgoers to Marquette Park in the village were buried in sand. The latter description was writ- ten by a reporter from the Chicago Chronicle, dated September 11, 1896. The reporter was one of several who had come to town to docu- ment the experiments of “the Cra- zy Old Man of the Sand Dunes,” Octave Chanute. Miller Beach Continued on Page 2 Chanute’s experiments in the dunes at Miller Beach have not gone unrecognized. In this bronze replica of the man who engineered glider experiments in the dunes, Chanute is pointing toward the area, a once high dune, where he and his colleagues launched their experimental The base of Father Marquette’s statue is partially stained aircraft. green from the bronze sculpture THE Page 2 April 12, 2007 THE 911 Franklin Street • Michigan City, IN 46360 219/879-0088 • FAX 219/879-8070 In Case Of Emergency, Dial e-mail: News/Articles - [email protected] email: Classifieds - [email protected] http://www.thebeacher.com/ PRINTED WITH Published and Printed by TM Trademark of American Soybean Association THE BEACHER BUSINESS PRINTERS Delivered weekly, free of charge to Birch Tree Farms, Duneland Beach, Grand Beach, Hidden 911 Shores, Long Beach, Michiana Shores, Michiana MI and Shoreland Hills. The Beacher is also Subscription Rates delivered to public places in Michigan City, New Buffalo, LaPorte and Sheridan Beach. 1 year $28 6 months $16 3 months $10 1 month $5 Chanute’s experiments in the dunes at Miller Beach have not gone unrecognized. Not only has the Aquatorium Society steered a campaign to rebuild and restore the formerly-named Gary Bath House, a highlight of Miller Beach’s summer season has been the Gary Air Show. A.M. Herring would be amazed to watch the Thunderbirds, wouldn’t you say? But we digress again. There are two discrepancies on this plaque dedicated to the Father of Flight. Chanute’s fi rst name is misspelled, and, according to the engineer’s own diaries, his experiments took place in September and October 1896, when northern lake winds are stronger. Miller Beach Continued from Page 1 In September and October of 1896, Chanute and some engineering colleagues conducted their glider experiments off a high dune at the end of Lake Street. Now, this was before paved streets and auto- mobiles as we know them. The experimental fl ying A side view of the Gary Bath House, renamed the Aquatorium and originally constructed of pre-cast concrete block in 1921. crew took the train from Chicago (this was before the South Shore, of course), or boat--with all their The Gary Bath House, built in 1921 of pre-cast lumpy and awkward gear, and made their way to concrete blocks with ornate balconies, Corinthian the lakefront. Anyone who has watched the hang columns and two wings, has been renamed the gliders around Mt. Baldy can get an idea, except Aquatorium. The two wings, former shower areas, that today’s hang gliders are much easier to man- are each dedicated to Octave Chanute and the Tus- age. keegee Airmen. Bronze sculptures of each fl ank the Now, Octave Chanute has not received as much main entrance. credit as the Wright Brothers for his aviation experiments, except perhaps in Miller-- but somewhere this writer read that the latter team considered jour- neying to Indiana’s dunes rather than Kitty Hawk. The distance in those days was too great, however. Even before the Wright Brothers, Chanute’s one- time colleague, A.M. Herring, put a motor on his glider and ran a successful, if unreplicated, experi- ment in fl ying (1898) at the beach in St. Joe, Michi- gan. Herring was quoted by a newspaperman at that time as saying “it would be unlikely that fl ying machines will ever carry freight or more than one or two persons at a time. “ Not sorry for the digres- sion readers, because that laughable quote is worth exhuming from the November 18, 1898 Elmira (NY) Daily Advertiser. THE April 12, 2007 Page 3 Open ‘til 6 p.m. Evenings Elegant Apparel for the A Tuskeegee Airman www.littlehousefashions.com guards the east wing of [email protected] Conscious Woman the Gary Bath House. Women’s Apparel SPRING SALE Buy 1, Get 1 1/2 Price (of equal or lesser value) A view of the Tuskeegee Wing of the Aquatorium, at one time the men’s shower area. This wing has been renovated entirely and houses a banquet room with a panoramic view of the lake beyond. Note the “T” on the grillwork. The reconstructed east wing was dedicated in 1999, and can be reserved for special events. Berek's Ray's of Sun Lurex Twin Set - Incredible unique designs in lightweight knit. 3/4 Sleeve, Lurex-mix twin set with radiating rows of sequins and a rhinestone zipper. 45% Ramie, 45% Cotton,10% Lurex. Hand wash. S-XL. $196 A closer view of the upper level of the Aquatorium showing its ornate rails and column. The Tent Is Up! 50% plus another 30% off! 409409 Alexander Alexander Street Street, LaPorte,LaPorte, IN IN 326-8602326-8602 On Hwy 35 - 5 Blocks South of Lincolnway TurnTurn Rightright on AlexanderAlexander Monday-FridayMonday - Friday 10 am 9:30 to 6 topm 7 Saturday Saturday 9:30 9:30 am to to 5 5 pm Miller Beach Continued on Page 4 THE Page 4 April 12, 2007 Miller Beach Continued from Page 3 couples danced under the stars to music by local The building, whose architect was George Wash- orchestras. The pavilion continues to host events, ington Maher, continues to undergo a facelift. It has from receptions and parties to conferences and oth- been placed on the National Register of Historic er special occasions. Places. Some of us might remember the showers in Away from the lake, Miller provides visitors with the wings of the bathhouse, where one had to run some top-notch restaurants, a bakery and deli with through a cold water spray—no avoiding it—to get to-die-for treats, an art gallery full of local color, and to the beach. That means, we’re historic, too! (And another building listed on the National Register of survivors of that chilly ritual). Historic Places: the old town hall building looked Even before the Gary Bath House was built, Mil- empty when we found it. From evidence gleaned lerites availed themselves of the town’s original from a turn-of-the-19th century picture, the ma- bathhouse built by the Carr family, according to hogany brick structure had once been a happenin’ Miller historians. Two years after the Gary Bath- place. house was built, the twin-towered Marquette Park Pavilion was erected at a cost of $350,000. Sitting to the east of the lagoon of the Grand Calumet River, the pavilion underwent renovations in 1966. The south side of the building opens to a terrace where Another historic structure that remains is Miller’s town hall at Grand Blvd and Miller Avenue. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The traveling time from Michigan City to Miller isn’t much—a half-hour’s drive at most down U.S. The Marquette Park Pavillion, built between 1923-24, has undergone 12. (Much of the information for this story was renovations. This view shows the terrace where couples could gleaned from historical accounts and links found at dance under the stars during warmer months.

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