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Incorporated in 1836, Michigan
City is a manufacturing center with products that include air
compressors, boilers, furniture, and clothing. A historic state
prison and a U.S. Coast Guard station are also here.
The city, located near Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, is
a summer resort and yachting center. Other recreational amenities
include a zoo and Lighthouse Place, a large shopping center located
on the former site of John Barker's Pullman car manufacturing
complex, just a few blocks away from the historic downtown area.
Most of the factory buildings burned down years ago, but two
original buildings remain and have become part of the popular
outlet center.
The community was settled in the early 1830s and named for
Michigan Road (a route linking the Ohio River with Lake Michigan),
of which it was the Northern terminus. During the 19th century
it was an important grain- and lumber-shipping port. Pop. (1980)
36,850; (1990) 33,822.
Michigan City is home to a fair amount of historic architecture,
but it desperately needs preservation programs and historic district
legislation to preserve its important historic and architectural
heritage.
Photos by Tim Arends
City Hall
Barker Mansion
This stately residence, designed by Chicago architect
Frederick Perkins, was built in 1900-1905 for John H. Barker,
freight car industrialist. The mansion overlooked a massive Pullman
car manufacturing compound. Now a museum, this 38-room English
manor-style home is filled with original furnishings, imported
art objects, rare woods and imported marble. This mansion is
a must-visit at Christmastime, when nearly every major room is
decorated for the holiday.
Call (219) 873-1520 for tour information.
A beautifully maintained corner building. Italianate.
This church is a fine example of the Gothic Revival
style of architecture characterized by pointed arches and ribbed
vaulting. This broad style of architecture stemmed from a movement
of the 18th and 19th centuries aimed at reviving the spirit and
forms of Gothic architecture.
A bank building in downtown Michigan City of unusual
design. The trellis at the top of the building is an original
part of the design; its purpose was to allow vinelike foliage
to grow, forming a sort of rooflike canopy for the building.
Italianate style church. Italianate, fashionable in
England and the U.S. in the 1840's and 1850's, is characterized
by low-pitched, heavily-bracketed roofs, asymmetrical informal
plan, square towers, and often, round-arched windows.
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