Lake County Facts

Porter County Facts

Lake County is a hub in mid-America's economic activity. A network of major highways makes it easily accessible, the Indiana Toll Road, Interstate 80-94, Interstate 65, U.S. 41 and U.S. 30, for example. It is only a 35-minute drive from Lake County to the heart of neighboring Chicago.

Lake County was formally organized February 15, 1837. The county's first election was held on March 28, 1837.Crown Point wasn't always the County Seat.

Prior to establishing the County Seat, court was conducted in the home of Milo Robinson, as nearly all the lands within the limits of Lake County were still the property of the government. 

Liverpool was selected the first County Seat, however, the site was not satisfactory to a majority of the citizens. 

The County Seat was moved back to the location of Milo Robinson's home and was originally to be called "Lake County Courthouse," however, the name being too cumbersome, it was suggest that the county agent, George Earle, and the two proprietors, Judge Clark and Solon Robinson, select a new name. They settled on Crown Point. First settled in 1835, by Solon Robinson, Esq., who is known as the "Father of Lake County", by 1849 Crown Point contained three stores, one hotel, Presbyterian and Methodist churches, a good High School kept by the Rev. Wm. Townley, and about thirty-five dwelling houses.

The County is divided into eleven townships: Calumet / Cedar Creek / Center / Eagle Creek / Hanover/ Hobart / North / Ross / St. John /  West Creek / Winfield

 MONTH........LABOR FORCE.......EMPLOYED......UNEMPLOYED......UNEMP RATE
2006  November         231,111         219,652         11,459          5.0%
      December         231,234         219,186         12,048          5.2%
2007  January          231,391         215,870         15,521          6.7%
      February         229,260         215,274         13,986          6.1%
      March            230,991         217,483         13,508          5.8%
      April            228,794         216,800         11,994          5.2%
      May              227,908         217,115         10,793          4.7%
      June             230,640         218,986         11,654          5.1%
      July             227,859         216,547         11,312          5.0%
      August           224,822         212,455         12,367          5.5%
      September        225,220         214,915         10,305          4.6%
      October          224,946         214,540         10,406          4.6%
      November         227,654         215,616         12,038          5.3%
                                                                
LAST 12 MONTH AVG      228,393         216,232         12,161          5.3%

Time Zone: Central Standard and Central Daylight

Elevation: Highest point of altitude is due east of Crown Point
 on 109th Avenue at County Line road; nearly 50 feet higher than other areas.  source

     Highland: 387 feet; Hobart 640 feet; Gary 590 feet; Lowell 665 feet.

Climate:  Highland     Hobart     Gary     Lowell

Longitude: 41.47570 N, 87.37869 W

Fun Facts....

Vee-Jay Records founded in the 1950's was a Gary based record label that was the first in America to sign the Beatles and the Four Seasons.  Vee-Jay released the Beatles' "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You" in the United States.  They also had several hits with hometown group, The Spaniels, including "Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight."

Sammy Sosa hit some record setting shots in a home run race in 1998 with bats made by the Hoosier Bat Company which is based in Valparaiso.  The bat he used to belt no. 66 stands is on display at Cooperstown's National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Did you know that Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas was on the "Gong Show" in 1977 and Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott served six years as a nuclear submariner?

Indiana/Illinois State Line Boundary Marker
103rd Street at Lake Michigan

	Multiple site local landmark consisting of the existing monument and a monument commemorating the original location prior to its relocation to the current site in 1988.
	Local landmark designated in August, 2003.
	One of the oldest extant structures in Northwest Indiana, constructed in 1838.
	The only known marker remaining from the original state line surveys, and one of few similar monuments remaining in the country.
	A significant example of early nineteenth-century monument design and craftsmanship in stone (limestone).  Source

During the early frontier days, seven trails crossed the country, one of these trails is the Historic Lincoln Highway also known as the old Sauk Trail, which runs through Dyer, Schererville, Merrillville on through Valparaiso.  
Read more about the highway at:

 and 

According to John Drury who wrote the book 'This is Lake County, Indiana', "when Hammond, East Chicago and Whiting were in their infancy as industrial cities, what is now Gary, largest of all the Calumet Region cities, was but a deserted wasteland of sand hills, marshes and prairies traversed by the Grand Calumet and Little Calumet rivers.  In fact, it was so isolated that Octave Chanute, sometimes called the Father of American Aviation, selected it as the site of his pioneering glider experiments during the middle 1890's.  It was among the sand dunes (now leveled) of north Lake County that Chanute conducted his successful glider flights and made possible a type of airplane the Wright brothers later equipped with a propeller and motor.  A huge bolder in Marquette Park, in northeast Gary, marks the approximate site of Chanute's experiments." 

Pioneer History by Richard C. Schmal
Strange and Unusual Facts from the Lowell Tribune

Grandfather Peter Scholl (1818-1909) had his shoemaker shop in Cedar Lake and his grandson William apprenticed there when he was 17 years old.  Young William Scholl went on to national fame, specializing in the manufacture of all forms of medications and pads for care of the feet.  Some of his tools were donated to the Cedar Lake Historical Society and can be seen at the Lake of the Red Cedars Museum in Cedar Lake, during the summer months.

One of the oldest surviving homes "intact" in Lake County, this house trimmed in clapboard was built in 1847 by Wellington A. Clark and is a listing in the National Register of Historic Landmarks.  Wellington A Clark arrived in Crown Point during the 1830's from New York State.  Clark Street is named after this early family.  The Old Homestead is currently undergoing a community-wide restoration.
Source: http://www.crownpoint.net/historichomes.html

The South Shore Line, is  "America's last electric interurban railroad," and was originally built in 1908 as the Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend Railroad. In 1925 it became part of Samuel Insull's transportation and utilities empire and was renamed the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend Railroad. After Insull's empire collapsed during the Great Depression, the CSS&SB outlasted the other interurbans with the help of significant freight revenues, and survived into the era of government subsidies. The portion of the line in Indiana is now owned by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, which operates passenger service and grants a franchise for freight traffic to the Chicago SouthShore and South Bend Railroad (note no space in SouthShore!). All freight service is now hauled by diesel locomotives. 
Source: http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/Chicago/SouthShore/

The Hammond Professionals were one of America's first professional football clubs. Early forms of the team began in 1911 and 1916. They held numerous first records.
Many of the early players on the Professionals team came to Chicago with George Halas and formed the Chicago Bears around 1920. Read more here.

Did you know that Alvah Roebuck, of Sears and Roebuck fame operated a watch repair business in downtown Hammond , on Hohman Ave. from 1885 to 1887?
He was born on a farm near Lafayette Indiana. After losing his girlfriend to a school janitor, (Peter Meyn who later became Hammond’s leading banker), he answered an ad in the April 1, 1887 edition of the Chicago Daily News that read:

WANTED – Watchmaker with reference who can furnish tools. State age, experience and salary required. Address T39, Daily News.

Roebuck took an example of his best work to the job interview and was hired on the spot. He moved to Chicago and in 1881 formed a mail order company in partnership with Richard Sears. Not very business minded, Roebuck soon sold his share in the company, and retired to mange his investments and putter with gadgets. Financially ruined by a real estate collapse in the 1920’s, Roebuck returned to work as a sort of roving goodwill ambassador for the giant Sears Corporation. He died in June 18, 1948 at the age of 84.

Sources: Hammond: A Centennial Portrait by Lance Trusty,
Sears, Roebuck, U.S.A.: The Great American Catalog Store and How It Grew by Gordon L. Weil.

Lake County has a covered bridge at the Lake County Fairgrounds.  The 1878 bridge was built in Milroy, Rush County Indiana by A.M. Kennedy and Sons.  Known as the "burr truss" bridge, it measures 85 feet in length, 4 feet high and 16 feet wide.  It was relocated to the Fairgrounds in 1933.  There are no original covered bridges in Lake County.  -Photo taken in 1941 by Lewis Coe.

"Dairy Queen" History

In 1938, near Moline, Illinois, J.F. McCullough and his son, Alex, developed the delicious dairy product millions have come to know as 'Dairy Queen' soft serve.

The McCoulloughs arranged to test their new product in an ice cream retail shop in Kankakee, Illinois, owned by Sherb Noble. Noble held an 'All You Can Eat for 10 Cents sale one August afternoon. More than 1,600 people lined up to try the new treat, and the McCulloughs knew they had an exciting business opportunity. All they needed now was an efficient way to dispense their soft serve product - and they soon located a freezer, invented by Harry Oltz of Hammond Indiana, which could produce a continuous flow of the product. J.F. McCullough often referred to the cow as "the Queen" of the dairy business. Thus, the "Dairy Queen" name originated. The first "Dairy Queen" store, owned by Noble, opened in 1940 in Joliet, Illinois.

Did you know that Merrillville has a connection to the Underground Railroad?
A house built by Dr. Henry Palmer, the first doctor in Lake County , was used as a stopping point for escaped slaves.  The house located at the corner of 73^rd Place and Taney Street , had a basement trap door and tunnels that lead to the back yard where escaped slaves would hide until being transported to their next destination.  Source: The Times by Erica Harrington March 29, 1998 p. A 1
 

In 1934 Chicago Gangster John Dillinger escaped the Lake Country Jail in Crown Point by using a "pistol" he had carved from a wooden block.

Famous people who were married at the Lake County Courthouse include Ronald Reagan, Joe DiMaggio, Red Grange, Muhammad Ali, and Tom Mix.  Rudolph Valentino married Winifred DeWolfe in May 13, 1922.  During the first half of the century, Indiana did not require blood-tests or a three day waiting period.  They could be married quickly and at any time of the day.  The town became known as the "Marriage Mill" and "Gretna Green of the Midwest."
 

Did you know there is a 610 year old tree believed to be the oldest tree in Lake County, located on the 2600 block of W. 57^th Ave. in Merrillville ?  The tree is a bur oak and has been a Northwest Indiana landmark for years.  Article from The Merrillville Herald June 3, 1992

Did you ever shop at Goldblatts in Downtown Hammond?  The building stood four stories tall along Hohman Avenue, stretching a full city block from Sibley Avenue to Rimbach Avenue. The building dated back to 1927, when it began life as the Kaufman and Wolf Department Store.  The building was destroyed in on February 14th, 1993. The stately old clock that once told time in the Goldblatt's building on Hohman Avenue now graces the new main center stairway in the Hammond Public Library.

Floating above the tables and chairs of the media center at the Jerry Ross Elementary School in Crown Point is a portion of the actual "ACCESS" space hardware that Colonel Jerry Ross, who was born in Crown Point, used to conduct construction experiments during his first space flight and two spacewalks during shuttle mission STS-61B which was in space from November 26 to December 3, 1985.  The space hardware and the U.S. flag that was mounted on ACCESS by Ross during the spacewalks were given to the school by Colonel Ross during the school's dedication ceremonies.

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