MARKTOWN UPDATE A publication of the Marktown Preservation Society November 2006 Halloween In Marktown - The Tradition Continues visit us on line at www.marktown.org The Pullman-Marktown Connection while most of the homes in Marktown have windows by Javier Madrigal on all three sides. I kept hearing about the Pullman Neighborhood, Who would have throught that a 130 year old but really had no idea what it was all about until I say town house would be worth fixing? You shouldn't tell it with my own eyes. Wow! What a beautiful neigh- that to the Pullman community. They actually made borhood. I was so impressed with the community it work with a lot of love and pride for the historic and how everyone works together to make their nature of the neighborhood. neighborhood what it is. Next year I would like to invite all of my neighbors I met homeowner who actually let hundreds of from Marktown to go on the tour to see for your- people view their homes. Just to let you know they selves. I'm sure you too will be impressed as I was. are all town homes like ours. One big difference is So, let's try to have an open mind in our neigh- that they only have windows on the front and back, borhood. Being historic can't be a bad thing. After A home on Supervisor's Row was one of the first stops on This classic Victorian interior permits the homeowner to the 2006 tour. This outstanding three story home included showcase the original, beautifully refinished floors in the gardens and a truly wonderful interior. In many cases the home. While interiors spaces are not required to be re- homeowners were on hand to greet their guests. stored, it is nice to see that some of them have been. Please contact us via the internet at [email protected] all, Marktown wouldn't be here at all but for two very important things: 1) our homes were very, very well built, and 2) Marktown is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a historic neighborhood. Let's try to bring out the true beauty of our neigh- borhood one step, one house at a time. Together we can make a positive difference in Marktown and set an example for all of East Chicago and the Calu- met Region. More About Pullman and Historic Preservation by Paul A. Myers The concept of turning this neighborhood around and increasing the property values is an important one. Let's face it, our homes should be the largest ABOVE: A typical street in the Pullman National Historic investment in our lives and what our neighbors do or District. Greeters prepare to welcome one of the hundreds of tour participants into one of the ten properties included don't do can have an effect on not only the value of this year's hours tour. their home, but of the entire neighborhood. BELOW: A most unique kitchen arrangement provides In the Pullman Landmark District, as well as hun- ample cabinet space and a warm and cozy breakfast area. dreds of other neighborhoods across this great na- This particular kitchen is in a room addition added to the tion, the concepts of historic preservation have not rear of the property. OUTSTANDING! only increased the property values but more impor- tantly have improved the quality of life of those who reside there. To fully understand what it can do for a neighbor- hood, one only need visit north Pullman before go- ing to south Pullman. You see, north Pullman never had the same degree of protection as did south Pull- man and the difference is night and day. The concepts and precepts of historic preser- vation do not make people remove garages, drive- ways or car ports. It does not make them repaint their houses or open up their porches. What it does do is establish a set of standards that prevents the BELOW: Gutted by fire a number of years ago, this out- further degradation of the architectural and land use standing home was totally renovated by a pair of brothers standards under which the neighborhood was origi- who grew up in Pullman. The unique approach to the reno- nally designed. vation has brought new life to a 130 year old home. In Pullman, as well as those thousands of other historic districts across the nation, historic preser- vation increases property values and in doing so makes it possible for a greater degree of reinvest- ment by the homeowner. I don't know of anyone who, when the time comes to sell their home wouldn't want to sell it for the same prices they are getting in Pullman. I am pleased that Precinct Committeeman Mad- rigal enjoyed his afternoon in Pullman and I hope that all of our friends and neighbors in Marktown take the opportunity to join him either at the Pullman Gar- den Walk in the early summer of their Annual House Walk in October. It is a trip well worth your time. For information on Pullman please visit them at www.pullman-museum.org THE MARQUETTE PLAN AND EAST CHICAGO....... "Make no little plans: They some came with a list of things have no magic to stir men's they wanted to complain about, blood and probably themselves others came prepared with will not be realized. Make big ideas, concepts and yes written plans; aim high in hope and reports and plans as to what work, remembering that a they thought would enhance the noble, logical diagram once quality of life for generations to recorded will never die, but long come. As we noted last month, after we are gone will be a living the Marktown Historic District is thing, asserting itself with ever a part of that plan. growing insistency. Remember While we have said that our that our sons and grandsons neighborhood is surrounded on are going to do things that would three sides by steel mills and stagger us. Let your watchword an oil refinery on the fourth be order and your beacon side, that really isn't all that beauty." true. To the north of us is nearly And so Congressman a 1/4 square mile of land that Visclosky's visionary plan for has never been developed. Just the future of the greater Calu- to the west of us, adjacent to met area was unveiled, and the softball fields is another with it the hopes and aspira- stretch of land that has stood tions of generations to come as vacant for decades. Under the we transform the 100 year old Marquette Greenway, all of this industrial complex along the and a great deal more will be shore of the great Lake Michi- converted over a period of gan into the playground of the years into one of the largest Midwest and the nation. parks in Northwest Indiana. In 2004 a series of public The proposed name for it is meetings were held in order to Heritage Park, and as you can allow the residents of the see from the map, it will nearly Calumet Region the opportunity completely encircle tiny little to voice their opinion as to what Marktown with park lands. they wanted and didn't want in Even the section of land east of this proposed new plan. While Riley Road where the YS&T Will something as grand as Millennium Park in Chicago be included in the plans for the Marquette Greenway's Heritage Park? Only time will tell! But what we need to do is think big, bigger than big. Think GRAND! Wetlands such as this can be added to the presently blank landscape. The area slated to be Heritage Park was natural wetlands as late as the 1950s. Wouldn't it be nice to have park lands like this in our neighborhood? Let the Marquette Greenway unlock our vision for generations to come. The future of Marktown and of all of the greater Calumet Region lies within this plan. .......A CLOSER LOOK AT THE SHIP CANAL PLANS Co. No. 1 Tin Mill had stood is the east. Plan well, let your included in the plans for the new imaginations soar and then add park. to it the following ingredients... One of the concepts brought !walking, jogging & bicycle trails forward by a Marktown resident !our own version of Millennium Park was a series of museums, one !natural settings with lakes in each of the five host cities; and ponds Hammond, Whiting, East !ample parking Chicago, Gary and Portage. !tennis courts Don't look now but the plans for !baseball fields the Gary museum, the Discov- !soccer fields ery Center, were unveiled in !basketball courts November 2004. And here, on !large scale public sculpture the map you can see the pro- - lots of it posed Industrial Heritage !a Marktown Interpretive & Museum in East Chicago, just Nature Center down Dickey Road and over the !lots of trees, bushes and flowers Indiana Harbor Ship Canal from !picnic groves and shelters Marktown. While it will take several And don't forget, just down the years to actually begin the street on the opposite side of construction phase of the the canal will be the Industrial museum or the new Heritage Heritage Museum which will Park, the first step is always the also celebrate the history of the planning phase. Just what will Marktown Historic District. go into Heritage Park? It's up to This is what people with all of us, but we have come up vision have planned for the with a basic plan for success.