Miller Beach
Encyclopedia
Miller Beach is a community on the southernmost shore of Lake Michigan
. Originally an independent town first settled in 1851, Miller was annexed by the city of Gary, Indiana
in 1918. Located in the northeastern corner of Lake County, Indiana
, Miller borders Lake Michigan to the north and Porter County to the east, and is largely surrounded by protected lands including the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
. Miller Beach is also the closest beach/resort community to Chicago, and has been a popular vacation spot since the early 20th century. As of the 2000 US census, it had a population of 9,900.
Home to some of the world's most threatened ecosystems, Miller Beach contains a high proportion of protected land. Miller encompasses the westernmost part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
, including the Miller Woods
and Long Lake
areas. The National Lakeshore's popular West Beach area lies immediately to the east of Miller Beach. The entire shoreline of Miller is public beachfront. Miller's large lakefront park, Marquette Park
, is a national landmark containing architecturally significant and historic structures, two bronze sculptures and the location of early experiments in aviation which predate the Wright Brothers flights.
Less than an hour from downtown Chicago by car, Miller Beach has attracted Chicagoans as tourists and residents for more than a century. The most affluent area within the municipal boundaries of Gary, Miller Beach contains multiple business districts,Including the Miller Beach Arts and Creative District
, a robust civil society, and numerous public and charter school
s. The community is within a mile of exits on four major interstate
s, and is also served by South Shore Line commuter trains. Having defied regional trends toward racial polarization and environmental degradation, Miller Beach exhibits extraordinary socioeconomic, racial and bio diversity. The community has been described as "an island of integration and natural beauty".
's southern tip, and at the northeastern tip of Lake County
. The majority of Gary's lakefront is occupied by heavy industry, Miller Beach is the only residential area within Gary's municipal boundaries with unspoiled lake frontage. The shoreline of Miller is publicly owned either by the municipal or federal governments, and beachfront homes are separated from the lake by "an apron of dunes".
Protected lands separate Miller Beach from most of its neighbors, except for the smaller Gary neighborhood of Aetna
to the southwest. To the west, the Miller Woods
area of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
lies between Miller and U.S. Steel's Gary Works
. To the east, Miller borders on the Lakeshore's West Beach
area. To the southeast and south, the Little Calumet River corridor largely separates Miller from the cities of Portage
and Lake Station
. Although mostly in private hands, the land along the Little Calumet is largely protected from development by flood-control easement
s. In addition, a strip of National Lakeshore property separates Miller's northern and southern halves, making the northern half of Miller Beach one of four beachfront communities entirely surrounded
by the National Lakeshore.
As a legacy of the cycles of expansion it has undergone since the 19th century, Miller Beach contains a number of distinct neighborhoods. Miller's traditional core, The Grand/Lake Historic District between Lake Street and Grand Boulevard, holds its oldest structures, including the Miller Town Hall and the South Shore Centre for the Arts, formerly Old Miller School, and many of its businesses. The northern part of Miller Beach is chiefly residential and surrounded entirely by national parkland. At the far northeast corner, along County Line Road, Miller's most expensive development, East Edge, rubs shoulders with the Miller Village apartment complex.
West of Miller's downtown is another multi-block apartment complex, Duneland Village, containing a small baseball park, the 3.47-acre Gibson Fields, home field of Miller Little League for generations. In the opposite direction, more than a mile to the east of downtown on the Dunes Highway, the isolated Inland Manor subdivision lies in the midst of the National Lakeshore. All property in Inland Manor has been acquired by the US government, but many residents remain in their homes under reservation of use and occupancy
agreements.
. The Potawatomi
moved in from the north to replace them. The Potawatomi did not build any permanent settlements within the Indiana Dunes, but frequently came into the area to hunt, fish and gather food including wild rice
. The Odawa people
also hunted deer there in the winter.
French missionary Father Jacques Marquette
passed along the south shore of Lake Michigan in 1675, attempting to return to Canada after he had fallen gravely ill on the Mississippi River. According to local tradition, Marquette camped for a night at the mouth of the Grand Calumet River in present-day Marquette Park
, shortly before his death.
As the United States expanded westward in the early 19th century, the Potawatomi were removed from Indiana through a series of treaties and forced removals
in the 1820s and 1830s. Indian Boundary Road in Miller Beach marks the border of a tract ceded in one such treaty, the 1826 Treaty of Mississinwas
, which used the southern end of Lake Michigan as the tract's southern limit. By 1836, the Potawatomi nation had been deprived of all of its lands throughout Indiana. Some Potawatomi, however, remained in the Miller Beach area as landowners, including Simon Pokagon
, second chief of the Pokagon Band. Other Potawatomi continued to visit the region in the spring and summer into the late 19th century.
As white settlement spread across the Upper Midwest in the 19th century, many promoters and speculators sought to attract settlers and commercial development to the Calumet Region, but were defeated by the difficult terrain and lack of transportation. In 1833, an inn called the Bennett Tavern was built at the mouth of the Grand Calumet River, serving the Detroit-Chicago stagecoach
es that ran along the shoreline. It stood for only a few years. The first man to plat a town in modern-day Miller Beach was Indian trader Joseph Bailly
, who in 1833 plat
ted a "Town of Bailly" at the mouth of the Grand Calumet, in present-day Marquette Park
. But nothing came of the Town of Bailly or the "Indiana City" laid out nearby in 1837.
In 1837, the area that would become downtown Miller was purchased and platted by Indian traders William and George Ewing and George H. Walker
. The plat bore the name of "Ewing's Subdivision", as the lots within it still do. But it would not be developed until the railroad arrived in 1851; in fact, the entirety of modern-day Gary was home to only a single household in 1850.
in 1851, a train stop first called "Miller's Station" and later "Miller's Junction" or "Miller's", and ultimately "Miller", was established in the present-day downtown area of Miller Beach. A railroad town from its inception, Miller would later also be served by the B&O Railroad beginning in 1874 and the South Shore Line
beginning in 1908. The person for whom the town was named is unknown. An early railroad agent recalled the name as coming from a construction engineer named John Miller who lived in the area, and at whose home the early trains would stop for water and wood between LaPorte
and Chicago. Other possible namesakes include an innkeeper for whom train crews dropped off milk, and a foreman who buried his son nearby.
Swedes began to migrate to the United States in large numbers in the 1860s as a result of the famines in Scandinavia, and some of these immigrants settled in Miller. The Swedish- and German-Americans of early Miller drew their livelihood from sand mining
, ice harvesting, and railroad maintenance. Miller remained very small in this period; only twelve families were present in 1870. Miller acquired its first schoolhouse in the 1860s, and its own post office in 1879. Beginning in the 1880s, the town hosted a small commercial sturgeon
and whitefish
fishery, with fishermen bringing in sturgeon weighing as much as 200 pounds.
The combination of proximity to Chicago and a pristine natural environment soon drew visitors from the city. Among them was aviation pioneer Octave Chanute
, who staged a series of experimental flights from the 70-foot dunes near Lake Street Beach in 1896. Around the same time, the pioneering botanist Henry Chandler Cowles
conducted early studies of ecological succession
in Miller Woods
. In subsequent decades, the Chicago film industry
used the Miller dunes and beaches as backdrops in numerous silent film
s set in exotic locales. Among these were films by the Selig Polyscope Company
, and the Chicago Essanay Studios
productions The Plum Tree (1914) and The Fall of Montezuma (1912), in which the Miller beach represented the coast of Mexico.
Millerites rallied to incorporate their community as the Town of Miller in 1907, hoping to prevent annexation by Gary following the founding of that then booming city in 1906. According to the 1910 census, The Town of Miller had a population of 638 people when Gary mayor Thomas Knotts
attempted to annex Miller in 1910 as part of a larger territorial dispute with East Chicago. This initial annexation effort was successfully resisted.
In the 1910s, the Gary city government and US Steel became increasingly aware of the need for a lakefront park for the millworkers and their families. In view of this, Miller and Gary formed a joint parks department in 1915 to administer part of the land that is now Marquette Park
. Encountering difficulties purchasing this land, however, Gary sought to annex Miller so that it could seize the property by eminent domain
. In 1918, the town board voted to accept annexation, ending Miller's political independence.
In 1967, Richard Hatcher was elected mayor of Gary, becoming the first African-American mayor of any major US city. The voting in his election was almost entirely along racial lines, with white Democrats voting en masse for the Republican candidate in the general election
. A key exception to this was in Miller Beach, where Hatcher obtained decisive support from a group of primarily Jewish Millerites who had opposed the Wallace
presidential campaign in 1948 and had subsequently supported Hatcher in his bid for the Gary Common Council.
Fearing that the white flight
occurring elsewhere in Gary would be replicated in Miller Beach, local residents formed the Miller Citizens Corporation (MCC) in 1971. Unlike similar groups elsewhere in the city, the goal of the MCC was not to prevent integration, but to slow the process so that events did not spiral out of control. The MCC worked to stem flight from the community with techniques including positive publicity about Miller's advantages, and banning "For Sale" signs. As part of this effort, the organization also took on environmental issues, including banning sand mining
in residential areas.
The National Lakeshore was founded in 1966 through the efforts of Senator Paul Douglas
, ending a struggle that had begun in the 1890s. The Lakeshore's initial boundaries, however, did not include the Miller Woods and Long Lake areas in Miller Beach. After the death of Senator Douglas in 1976, a Lakeshore expansion bill gained bipartisan support in Congress, as a memorial to him. With the bill's passage, the Lakeshore was expanded by 4,300 acres, including Miller Woods and Long Lake.
In 2002, faced with plummeting property tax
revenue due to a state-imposed change in assessments of industrial property, the city of Gary nearly doubled tax rates, leading to widespread outcry. Together with other organizations around the state, the Miller Citizens Corporation lobbied successive state governments to impose tax cap
s. The tax caps became law in 2008, and became part of the state constitution in 2010.
neighborhood as Gary's wealthiest area, a distinction it has retained ever since. Along with other areas on Gary's periphery, Miller saw strong 70% growth during the 1950s. During this period the neighborhood was virtually all-white and heavily Jewish.
The first house in Miller Beach to be purchased by an African-American family was sold in 1964. By 1980 the neighborhood was 52% African-American. Unlike other Gary neighborhoods that saw abrupt white flight
and economic dislocation during this period, Miller Beach underwent a stable and peaceful transition through the 1970s to an integrated population with most of the new African-American residents being "upwardly mobile" black professionals. Miller Beach and the previously little-developed Westside
neighborhood were the only areas in Gary to experience population growth during the 1970s.
Since early in the community's history, many people have moved to Miller Beach from nearby Chicago, "seeking a getaway from the city". Early examples included nonconformist Alice Mabel Gray, known as "Diana of the Dunes", who frequented Miller Beach and nearby Ogden Dunes
in the early 1900s. In the 1950s, as it gained prominence as a resort area. Miller's many new residents included author Nelson Algren
, who bought a house on the East Lagoon with the proceeds from the Pulitzer Prize
and The Man With the Golden Arm
. Another wave of immigration from Chicago began in the 1990s.
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The natural landscape of Miller Beach includes "some of the most pristine habitats that remain in Northwest Indiana". The freshwater panne habitat, found at Miller Woods and West Beach, is considered globally imperiled by the Nature Conservancy. The dune and swale complex is unique to the southern Great Lakes
, with only a few isolated pockets remaining. Sand oak savanna, of which Miller Woods provides "one of the finest in the Chicago region", is both globally and state imperiled.
This varied landscape of dunes and wetlands is the legacy of fluctuations in Lake Michigan and the Grand Calumet River since the last Ice Age
. The Wisconsinan glaciation
ended in the Miller Beach area around 18,000 years ago, forming Glacial Lake Chicago as the glaciers melted. Some boreal species remained in hospitable habitats after the climate had warmed, while more heat-tolerant species such as the six-lined racerunner and prickly pear cactus moved in during the Holocene climatic optimum
to inhabit the mesic uplands.
After the glaciers retreated, factors including isostatic rebound of the earth's crust led to a series of different lake levels, each of which left a mark on the landscape. During the Algonquin stage
, the dune-and-swale ridges of the Tolleston Beach were formed across much of the Calumet Region, including the southern part of Miller Beach. The later and lower Nipissing stage created the high dunes that mark the northern, lakeward part of Miller Beach. Around 2600 BP, the Grand Calumet River formed; prior to the 19th century, it emptied into Lake Michigan at Marquette Park
in Miller Beach, where the Grand Calumet Lagoons are today. The direction of the Grand Calumet was changed in 1862. Because the river is nearly flat, however, the direction of flow through the lagoons sometimes reverses after heavy rains.
The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
, which includes large areas in and around Miller Beach, is a place of extremely high biodiversity. The neighborhood's Miller Woods
area alone is home to 287 species of plants and animals, including the federally endangered Karner Blue
butterfly and the federally threatened Pitcher's thistle
.
At 1,445 plant species, the National Lakeshore has more species per unit of area than any other national park in the United States. Among these, numerous species of orchids are found in the neighborhood's Miller Woods area, including the Northern fringed orchid
and snake-mouth orchid
. Some plant species found in Miller Woods, such as the fame flower, grow nowhere else in the Indiana Dunes.
A wide range of species of wild mammals inhabit the natural areas of Miller Beach, including the Virginia opossum
, prairie deer mouse
, fox squirrel
, and beaver
. The coyote
, which returned to the area in the 1990s, is the region's largest wild predator, and the white-tailed deer
is its largest herbivore. Although no definitive survey of local bat
s has been conducted, several species are believed to be present in the area, including the endangered Indiana myotis.
Miller Beach and the adjacent West Beach
area of the National Lakeshore provide a stopping point for many migratory birds, thanks to their position at the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan, . The Audubon Society has consequently designated both areas as Important Bird Area
s. In particular, the neighborhood's beachfront is known as one of the best areas in the Midwest for observing jaegers during their autumn migration, and also lies under a spring flyway of the sandhill crane
. Migrant birds stopping at Long Lake include the state-endangered least bittern
and Virginia rail
.
Miller Woods is home to 18 species of reptiles and amphibians, giving it one of the most diverse herpetofauna in the Indiana Dunes. These include the Fowler's toad, the six-lined racerunner and the state-endangered Blanding's turtle
. In addition, the slender glass lizard
inhabits the Inland Marsh area in the neighborhood's southeast.
and disruption during the sudden changes of the 1970s, the MCC quickly expanded into other ways of promoting community stability, including through environmental preservation and zoning ordinances. In the 21st century, the MCC has also been active in addressing city fees and taxation issues.
Other major civic organizations in the neighborhood include the Humane Society of Northwest Indiana and Crisis Center. Located in Miller Beach since 1988, Crisis Center provides crisis intervention
and suicide prevention services to teens and adults nationwide.
Miller Beach has had a vibrant religious life dating back to 1874, when the Swedish-speaking Bethel Lutheran church was organized, meeting originally in the Miller schoolhouse. The town's first English-speaking church, Chapel of the Dunes, was built in 1901. Miller is unusual among communities in the region, in that both of these early churches are still standing. The Roman Catholic parish of St. Mary of the Lake was established in 1929, under the Gary diocese
. Miller Beach is also home to Gary's only synagogue still in operation, Temple Israel, a Reform
congregation founded in 1910.
The Miller Garden Club, founded in 2000, hosts an annual garden walk and plant sale. Miller also hosts several community gardens, one of which is a joint project between Miller's Lutheran and Jewish congregations.
Numerous festivals are held in Miller through the year, including the South Shore Air Show at Marquette Park. The biweekly farmer's market also functions as a sort of community fair, with information booths from groups such as the Miller Historical Society. In 2011, Miller was the site of the only gay pride parade
in Northwest Indiana
. Called "Northwest Indiana Rainbow Days," the annual parade has been held in Gary since 2006.
Miller Beach is part of the First District of the Gary Common Council, which is currently represented by Councilwoman Marilyn Krusas. Residents additionally vote for three at-large council seats.
Home values in Miller are the highest of any area within the municipal boundaries of Gary. In 2006, a home on Miller's lakefront sold for more than US$1 million for the first time. As of 2008, the "East Edge" development in northeastern Miller Beach was the city's most expensive, with single-family home prices in excess of $500,000. As of 2000, Miller's 4,773 housing units had an owner-occupancy rate of 47.4% and a vacancy rate of 10.3%.
Commercial activity in Miller Beach is clustered primarily along Lake Street and U.S. 20, in the neighborhood's southwestern corner. The Lake Street corridor is a traditional downtown area, described by the city government as having a "pedestrian-friendly, 'Main Street' character." The downtown area has the highest walkability
of any part of Miller Beach. Most retail catering to neighborhood residents is concentrated along this corridor. Near the southern end of downtown, he historic Miller freight depot was relocated just a few yards from its original location and is now the main dining room for Miller Pizza Station, a popular restaurant in the downtown area.
The U.S. 20 corridor, running along Miller's southern end and partially shared with the Aetna
neighborhood, is another commercial center. Businesses along U.S. 20 cater primarily to highway and interstate travelers. This corridor is also home to several strip club
s, a source of frequent anger from community activists.
During the summer months, the Miller Beach Farmers' Market provides an alternative source of fresh food. Begun in 2008 and sponsored by the Methodist church, the Farmers' Market seeks to promote a sustainable local economy and allow residents to purchase high-quality food within Gary.
. Public elementary schools in Miller include Marquette Elementary, near Marquette Park, and Banneker Elementary near Long Lake. Miller's public secondary schools include Wirt Emerson VPA, formerly William A. Wirt High School
. Wirt Emerson is a magnet school for the visual and performing arts, serving grades 6-12.
Charter schools in Miller Beach include KIPP: Lead College Prep Charter School
and the Charter School of the Dunes, located adjacent to the Lake Street Beach. Like all charter schools in Gary
, these schools are sponsored by Ball State University
. At the neighborhood's edge, a private religious school is operated by Christ Baptist Church in the Glen Ryan area; another private school is located in Aetna. The Miller Beach area is also served by the Roman Catholic schools of the Gary diocese
. As of 2011, there were no Catholic schools in Miller Beach, although the local parish did operate a K-8 institution, Saint Mary of The Lake School, from 1949 to 1993.
Nearby institutions of higher learning include Indiana University Northwest
in Gary's Glen Park
neighborhood, Purdue University Calumet
in Hammond, and Valparaiso University
in Valparaiso. There are no colleges or universities within Miller Beach itself. The 2005-2009 American Community Survey
found that approximately 28% of Miller Beach residents had a bachelor's degree or higher.
Additional community education facilities include the Paul Douglas Center for Environmental Education in Miller Woods
, which provides environmental education
to residents and visitors. Numerous scheduled lectures, classes and workshops are held there each year. The trails around the Douglas Center additionally provide a self-guided nature tour.
Downtown Miller Beach is home to the South Shore Centre for the Arts, located in the building once occupied by the Miller School. The Centre provides classes for the general public on subjects including dance, piano, voice, and self-defense. The Centre is also home to the South Shore Dance Alliance, a "pre-professional" contemporary dance company drawing members from throughout Northwest Indiana and performing throughout the Chicago area.
reaches its northern terminus just to the west of Miller. Joined as the Borman Expressway
, Interstates 80 and 94 have exits just southwest and south of Miller, at Interstate 65 and at Indiana State Road 51
in Lake Station. The Indiana Toll Road
(Interstate 90) shares both the Borman's exit at State Road 51, and the Interstate 65 exit. Using the Toll Road, Miller Beach is 36 miles from downtown Chicago
, with an estimated travel time of 50 minutes.
Surface highways traversing Miller Beach include U.S. 12
, the earliest highway to serve the area. U.S. 20
also passes along the community's southern edge. Highways 12 and 20 connect Miller to the interstates, downtown Gary, and nearby towns of Porter County such as Portage
and Chesterton
. Additionally, Indiana State Road 51
has its northern terminus at U.S. 20, at Miller's the southern limit, and connect Miller Beach to communities south of the Little Calumet River, such as Lake Station and Hobart
.
The all-electric commuter trains of the NICTD South Shore Line stop at Miller Station
. On weekdays, Miller Station is served by 14 eastbound trains and 12 westbound trains. The South Shore Line has served the neighborhood since 1908, when the line was built as an interurban railroad by tycoon Samuel Insull
.
Miller Beach is served by the Route 13 buses of the Gary Public Transportation Corporation
(GPTC), which do a full circle of the neighborhood and terminate at the GPTC hub station at Gary Metro Center in downtown Gary. At the Metro Center, passengers can transfer to buses serving other parts of Gary and towns as distant as Hammond
and Crown Point
. The Metro Center is also served by Greyhound buses
, and is the eastern terminus for many South Shore Line trains.
A 2.0-mile bicycle trail, the Marquette Greenway, runs through National Lakeshore property from downtown Miller Beach to West Beach in Porter County. Paved with fine limestone
, as of 2010, the Marquette Greenway was one of only two bicycle trails within Gary. The Gary Green Links plan calls for additional trails and bikeway
s connecting Miller Beach to other towns and neighborhoods. As of 2011, however, the 46403 ZIP code
, which chiefly encompasses Miller Beach and Aetna, has a mean Walk Score of 30 out of 100, tied for the lowest walkability
in Gary.
. Covering 159.4 acres of dunes and beaches, the park was designed in the 1920s by pioneering landscape architect Jens Jensen
. Historic structures within Marquette Park include the Chanute Aquatorium and the Marquette Park Pavilion, both designed by Prairie School
architect George W. Maher
. The beach of the park, known as Marquette Beach, has been a very popular summer destination since the early 20th century. Because of Octave Chanute's experiments in the area, the park has been designated a National Landmark of Soaring
.
A bronze statue of the park's namesake, Father Jacques Marquette
, stands at the park entrance. The statue was installed in 1931 when the park, formerly known as Lake Front Park, was rededicated under its current name. It was created by beaux-arts architectural sculptor Henry Hering
, and has an ornate limestone base designed by the Walker and Weeks
architectural firm. Restoration work on the statue began in October 2010. The Marquette Park Pavilion, constructed in 1924 by Maher, stands immediately across from the statue.
The Pavilion sits on the south bank of the East Lagoon of the Grand Calumet River. The lagoon has been extensively landscaped in accordance with Jensen's park design. In the center of the lagoon stands a small man-made island, Patterson Island, built by the Works Progress Administration
in the 1930s. The island is connected to the shore by two footbridges: a suspension bridge on the north and a Japanese-style bridge on the south.
As of 2011, a US$28 million project to improve Marquette Park was underway, funded by a grant from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority. Begun in 2009, the project was the first capital improvement to Marquette Park since 1931. In addition to Marquette Park itself, the project covers the entire lakefront of Miller Beach, including the Lake Street and Wells Street beaches, for a total of 241 acres.
Two buildings in Miller Beach are on the National Register of Historic Places
. The Miller Town Hall, built in 1911, was added to the Register in 1978. The Chanute Aquatorium on the Marquette Park lakefront was added to the Register in 1994. A Classical Revival structure designed by George W. Maher, the Aquatorium was built in 1922. Originally a bathhouse
, it fell into disuse in the mid-20th century and was closed and nearly demolished in 1971. With the support of a society of local residents, the building was remodeled as a combination of an aviation museum and public event space.
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
. Originally an independent town first settled in 1851, Miller was annexed by the city of Gary, Indiana
Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...
in 1918. Located in the northeastern corner of Lake County, Indiana
Lake County, Indiana
Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 2010, its population was 496,005, making it Indiana's second-most populous county. The county seat is Crown Point. This county is part of Northwest Indiana and the Chicago metropolitan area. The county contains a mix of urban,...
, Miller borders Lake Michigan to the north and Porter County to the east, and is largely surrounded by protected lands including the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore located in northwest Indiana and managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966. The national lakeshore runs for nearly along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, from Gary, Indiana, on the west to Michigan...
. Miller Beach is also the closest beach/resort community to Chicago, and has been a popular vacation spot since the early 20th century. As of the 2000 US census, it had a population of 9,900.
Home to some of the world's most threatened ecosystems, Miller Beach contains a high proportion of protected land. Miller encompasses the westernmost part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore located in northwest Indiana and managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966. The national lakeshore runs for nearly along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, from Gary, Indiana, on the west to Michigan...
, including the Miller Woods
Miller Woods
Miller Woods is an area in the far western part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, in Gary, Indiana, in and near the neighborhood of Miller Beach, and south and west of the Gary Works steel mill. The area is home to the federally endangered Karner Blue butterfly and the federally threatened...
and Long Lake
Long Lake (Indiana)
Long Lake is a large interdunal wetland in the Indiana Dunes region of Northwest Indiana. It was originally approximately 8 miles in length, but has been shortened due to development and drainage. It has a surface area of 34 hectares, and a maximum depth of 1.8 meters. There are three small...
areas. The National Lakeshore's popular West Beach area lies immediately to the east of Miller Beach. The entire shoreline of Miller is public beachfront. Miller's large lakefront park, Marquette Park
Marquette Park (Gary)
Marquette Park, originally called Lake Front Park, is a municipal park completely surrounded by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Its primary elements include 1.4 miles of white sand Lake Michigan beaches, inland ponds, impressively high sand dunes, wetlands, a lagoon and indigenous oak...
, is a national landmark containing architecturally significant and historic structures, two bronze sculptures and the location of early experiments in aviation which predate the Wright Brothers flights.
Less than an hour from downtown Chicago by car, Miller Beach has attracted Chicagoans as tourists and residents for more than a century. The most affluent area within the municipal boundaries of Gary, Miller Beach contains multiple business districts,Including the Miller Beach Arts and Creative District
Miller Beach Arts and Creative District
Located in the community of Miller Beach, Indiana, the Miller Beach Arts and Creative District is a demarcated area positioned on Lake Michigan's southern beaches and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Park. The district includes much of the historically significant downtown Miller area...
, a robust civil society, and numerous public and charter school
Charter school
Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter...
s. The community is within a mile of exits on four major interstate
Interstate
An Interstate is a type of high-speed, limited-access highway in the United StatesInterstate may also refer to:-Media:*Interstate 60 , a metaphysical comedy/drama road film...
s, and is also served by South Shore Line commuter trains. Having defied regional trends toward racial polarization and environmental degradation, Miller Beach exhibits extraordinary socioeconomic, racial and bio diversity. The community has been described as "an island of integration and natural beauty".
Geography
Miller Beach sits at Lake MichiganLake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
's southern tip, and at the northeastern tip of Lake County
Lake County, Indiana
Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 2010, its population was 496,005, making it Indiana's second-most populous county. The county seat is Crown Point. This county is part of Northwest Indiana and the Chicago metropolitan area. The county contains a mix of urban,...
. The majority of Gary's lakefront is occupied by heavy industry, Miller Beach is the only residential area within Gary's municipal boundaries with unspoiled lake frontage. The shoreline of Miller is publicly owned either by the municipal or federal governments, and beachfront homes are separated from the lake by "an apron of dunes".
Protected lands separate Miller Beach from most of its neighbors, except for the smaller Gary neighborhood of Aetna
Aetna (Gary)
Aetna is a neighborhood in northeastern Gary, Indiana, south of Miller Beach and east of Interstate 65. As of 2000, the neighborhood had a population of 4,942, which was 83% black and 11% white....
to the southwest. To the west, the Miller Woods
Miller Woods
Miller Woods is an area in the far western part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, in Gary, Indiana, in and near the neighborhood of Miller Beach, and south and west of the Gary Works steel mill. The area is home to the federally endangered Karner Blue butterfly and the federally threatened...
area of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore located in northwest Indiana and managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966. The national lakeshore runs for nearly along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, from Gary, Indiana, on the west to Michigan...
lies between Miller and U.S. Steel's Gary Works
Gary Works
The Gary Works is a very large steel mill in Gary, Indiana, on the shore of Lake Michigan. For many years, the Gary Works was the world's largest steel mill, and it remains the largest integrated mill in North America....
. To the east, Miller borders on the Lakeshore's West Beach
West Beach
West Beach may be the names of several places:*West Beach, South Australia*West Beach, Western Australia*West Beach *West Beach, Beverly, Massachusetts...
area. To the southeast and south, the Little Calumet River corridor largely separates Miller from the cities of Portage
Portage, Indiana
Portage is a city in Portage Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 36,828 as of the 2010 census. It is the largest city in Porter County, and third largest in Northwest Indiana.-Geography:...
and Lake Station
Lake Station, Indiana
Lake Station is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 12,572 at the 2010 census.-History:An early depot stop on the Michigan Central Railroads Detroit to Chicago line through the Calumet region, the village was first named when George Earle mapped out a town of about in...
. Although mostly in private hands, the land along the Little Calumet is largely protected from development by flood-control easement
Easement
An easement is a certain right to use the real property of another without possessing it.Easements are helpful for providing pathways across two or more pieces of property or allowing an individual to fish in a privately owned pond...
s. In addition, a strip of National Lakeshore property separates Miller's northern and southern halves, making the northern half of Miller Beach one of four beachfront communities entirely surrounded
Inholding
An inholding is privately owned land inside the boundary of a national park, national forest, state park, or similar publicly owned, protected area...
by the National Lakeshore.
As a legacy of the cycles of expansion it has undergone since the 19th century, Miller Beach contains a number of distinct neighborhoods. Miller's traditional core, The Grand/Lake Historic District between Lake Street and Grand Boulevard, holds its oldest structures, including the Miller Town Hall and the South Shore Centre for the Arts, formerly Old Miller School, and many of its businesses. The northern part of Miller Beach is chiefly residential and surrounded entirely by national parkland. At the far northeast corner, along County Line Road, Miller's most expensive development, East Edge, rubs shoulders with the Miller Village apartment complex.
West of Miller's downtown is another multi-block apartment complex, Duneland Village, containing a small baseball park, the 3.47-acre Gibson Fields, home field of Miller Little League for generations. In the opposite direction, more than a mile to the east of downtown on the Dunes Highway, the isolated Inland Manor subdivision lies in the midst of the National Lakeshore. All property in Inland Manor has been acquired by the US government, but many residents remain in their homes under reservation of use and occupancy
Reservation of use and occupancy
Reservation of use and occupancy is an arrangement in US law that allows for residents to continue to use and/or occupy their property for a certain period after selling that property to the US government...
agreements.
Early history
When Lake Michigan first entered recorded history in the early 1600s, the land at the lake's southern end was populated by the Miami people. By 1640, the Miami had been driven from the region by the Beaver WarsBeaver Wars
The Beaver Wars, also sometimes called the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars, commonly refers to a series of conflicts fought in the mid-17th century in eastern North America...
. The Potawatomi
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...
moved in from the north to replace them. The Potawatomi did not build any permanent settlements within the Indiana Dunes, but frequently came into the area to hunt, fish and gather food including wild rice
Wild rice
Wild rice is four species of grasses forming the genus Zizania, and the grain which can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both North America and China...
. The Odawa people
Odawa people
The Odawa or Ottawa, said to mean "traders," are a Native American and First Nations people. They are one of the Anishinaabeg, related to but distinct from the Ojibwe nation. Their original homelands are located on Manitoulin Island, near the northern shores of Lake Huron, on the Bruce Peninsula in...
also hunted deer there in the winter.
French missionary Father Jacques Marquette
Jacques Marquette
Father Jacques Marquette S.J. , sometimes known as Père Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan...
passed along the south shore of Lake Michigan in 1675, attempting to return to Canada after he had fallen gravely ill on the Mississippi River. According to local tradition, Marquette camped for a night at the mouth of the Grand Calumet River in present-day Marquette Park
Marquette Park (Gary)
Marquette Park, originally called Lake Front Park, is a municipal park completely surrounded by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Its primary elements include 1.4 miles of white sand Lake Michigan beaches, inland ponds, impressively high sand dunes, wetlands, a lagoon and indigenous oak...
, shortly before his death.
As the United States expanded westward in the early 19th century, the Potawatomi were removed from Indiana through a series of treaties and forced removals
Indian Removal
Indian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...
in the 1820s and 1830s. Indian Boundary Road in Miller Beach marks the border of a tract ceded in one such treaty, the 1826 Treaty of Mississinwas
Treaty of Mississinwas
The Treaty of Mississiniwas or the Treaty of Mississinewa is an 1826 treaty between the United States and the Miami tribe.-Terms:After negotiations with the Pottawatomie to build the Michigan Road through Indiana by James B...
, which used the southern end of Lake Michigan as the tract's southern limit. By 1836, the Potawatomi nation had been deprived of all of its lands throughout Indiana. Some Potawatomi, however, remained in the Miller Beach area as landowners, including Simon Pokagon
Simon Pokagon
Simon Pokagon was a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, an author, and a Native American advocate. He was born near Bertrand in southwest Michigan and died on January 28, 1899 in Hartford, Michigan. Dubbed the “Red Man’s Longfellow” by literary fans, Pokagon was often called the...
, second chief of the Pokagon Band. Other Potawatomi continued to visit the region in the spring and summer into the late 19th century.
As white settlement spread across the Upper Midwest in the 19th century, many promoters and speculators sought to attract settlers and commercial development to the Calumet Region, but were defeated by the difficult terrain and lack of transportation. In 1833, an inn called the Bennett Tavern was built at the mouth of the Grand Calumet River, serving the Detroit-Chicago stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
es that ran along the shoreline. It stood for only a few years. The first man to plat a town in modern-day Miller Beach was Indian trader Joseph Bailly
Joseph Bailly
Joseph Bailly was a fur trader and a member of an important French Canadian family that included his uncle, Charles-François Bailly de Messein....
, who in 1833 plat
Plat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....
ted a "Town of Bailly" at the mouth of the Grand Calumet, in present-day Marquette Park
Marquette Park (Gary)
Marquette Park, originally called Lake Front Park, is a municipal park completely surrounded by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Its primary elements include 1.4 miles of white sand Lake Michigan beaches, inland ponds, impressively high sand dunes, wetlands, a lagoon and indigenous oak...
. But nothing came of the Town of Bailly or the "Indiana City" laid out nearby in 1837.
In 1837, the area that would become downtown Miller was purchased and platted by Indian traders William and George Ewing and George H. Walker
George H. Walker
George H. Walker was an American trader and politician who helped found the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Walker was born in Lynchburg, Virginia. He moved with his family to Illinois in 1825....
. The plat bore the name of "Ewing's Subdivision", as the lots within it still do. But it would not be developed until the railroad arrived in 1851; in fact, the entirety of modern-day Gary was home to only a single household in 1850.
Town of Miller
With the coming of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern RailwayLake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway
The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, NY to Chicago, primarily along the south shore of Lake Erie and across northern Indiana...
in 1851, a train stop first called "Miller's Station" and later "Miller's Junction" or "Miller's", and ultimately "Miller", was established in the present-day downtown area of Miller Beach. A railroad town from its inception, Miller would later also be served by the B&O Railroad beginning in 1874 and the South Shore Line
Chicago SouthShore and South Bend Railroad
The Chicago SouthShore and South Bend Railroad , known to many as the South Shore Line, is a Class III freight railroad operating between Chicago, Illinois, and South Bend, Indiana...
beginning in 1908. The person for whom the town was named is unknown. An early railroad agent recalled the name as coming from a construction engineer named John Miller who lived in the area, and at whose home the early trains would stop for water and wood between LaPorte
LaPorte, Indiana
La Porte is a city in La Porte County, Indiana, United States, of which it is the county seat. Its population was 22,053 at the 2010 census. It is one of the two principal cities of the Michigan City-La Porte, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the...
and Chicago. Other possible namesakes include an innkeeper for whom train crews dropped off milk, and a foreman who buried his son nearby.
Swedes began to migrate to the United States in large numbers in the 1860s as a result of the famines in Scandinavia, and some of these immigrants settled in Miller. The Swedish- and German-Americans of early Miller drew their livelihood from sand mining
Sand mining
Sand mining is a practice that is becoming an environmental issue as the demand for sand increases in industry and construction. Sand is mined from beaches and inland dunes and dredged from ocean beds and river beds. It is often used in manufacturing as an abrasive, for example, and it is used to...
, ice harvesting, and railroad maintenance. Miller remained very small in this period; only twelve families were present in 1870. Miller acquired its first schoolhouse in the 1860s, and its own post office in 1879. Beginning in the 1880s, the town hosted a small commercial sturgeon
Sturgeon
Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...
and whitefish
Whitefish
Whitefish or white fish may refer to:In fishing terminology:* Whitefish , a fisheries term referring to the flesh of many types of fishIn fish species:...
fishery, with fishermen bringing in sturgeon weighing as much as 200 pounds.
The combination of proximity to Chicago and a pristine natural environment soon drew visitors from the city. Among them was aviation pioneer Octave Chanute
Octave Chanute
Octave Chanute was a French-born American railway engineer and aviation pioneer. He provided the Wright brothers with help and advice, and helped to publicize their flying experiments. At his death he was hailed as the father of aviation and the heavier-than-air flying machine...
, who staged a series of experimental flights from the 70-foot dunes near Lake Street Beach in 1896. Around the same time, the pioneering botanist Henry Chandler Cowles
Henry Chandler Cowles
Henry Chandler Cowles was an American botanist and ecological pioneer . Born in Kensington, Connecticut, he attended Oberlin College in Ohio. He studied at the University of Chicago with the plant taxonomist John M. Coulter and the geologist Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin as main teachers. He...
conducted early studies of ecological succession
Ecological succession
Ecological succession, is the phenomenon or process by which a community progressively transforms itself until a stable community is formed. It is a fundamental concept in ecology, and refers to more or less predictable and orderly changes in the composition or structure of an ecological community...
in Miller Woods
Miller Woods
Miller Woods is an area in the far western part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, in Gary, Indiana, in and near the neighborhood of Miller Beach, and south and west of the Gary Works steel mill. The area is home to the federally endangered Karner Blue butterfly and the federally threatened...
. In subsequent decades, the Chicago film industry
Chicago film industry
The Chicago film industry is a central hub for motion picture production and exhibition that was established before Hollywood became the undisputed capital of film making. In the early 1900s, Chicago boasted the greatest number of production companies and filmmakers. Essanay Studios founded by...
used the Miller dunes and beaches as backdrops in numerous silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s set in exotic locales. Among these were films by the Selig Polyscope Company
Selig Polyscope Company
The Selig Polyscope Company was an American motion picture company founded in 1896 by William Selig in Chicago, Illinois. Selig Polyscope is noted for establishing Southern California's first permanent movie studio, in the historic Edendale district of Los Angeles...
, and the Chicago Essanay Studios
Essanay Studios
The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture studio. It is best known today for its series of Charlie Chaplin comedies of 1915.-Founding:...
productions The Plum Tree (1914) and The Fall of Montezuma (1912), in which the Miller beach represented the coast of Mexico.
Millerites rallied to incorporate their community as the Town of Miller in 1907, hoping to prevent annexation by Gary following the founding of that then booming city in 1906. According to the 1910 census, The Town of Miller had a population of 638 people when Gary mayor Thomas Knotts
Thomas Knotts
Thomas Elwood Knotts was the first mayor of the city of Gary, Indiana, serving from 1909 to 1913, after having previously served as head of the Gary town board from 1906 to 1909. He was also Gary's first postmaster...
attempted to annex Miller in 1910 as part of a larger territorial dispute with East Chicago. This initial annexation effort was successfully resisted.
In the 1910s, the Gary city government and US Steel became increasingly aware of the need for a lakefront park for the millworkers and their families. In view of this, Miller and Gary formed a joint parks department in 1915 to administer part of the land that is now Marquette Park
Marquette Park (Gary)
Marquette Park, originally called Lake Front Park, is a municipal park completely surrounded by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Its primary elements include 1.4 miles of white sand Lake Michigan beaches, inland ponds, impressively high sand dunes, wetlands, a lagoon and indigenous oak...
. Encountering difficulties purchasing this land, however, Gary sought to annex Miller so that it could seize the property by eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
. In 1918, the town board voted to accept annexation, ending Miller's political independence.
Part of Gary
After its annexation, the community continued to grow. So did its tourist industry: Drusilla Carr, proprietress of Carr's Beach (now Lake Street Beach), collected rent on more than a hundred beach cottages. With attractions including a shooting gallery, bath house, miniature railroad and "night spots", Carr's Beach was Gary's most popular summer destination in the late 1920s. With the construction and expansion of Marquette Park in the 1930s, and an influx of affluent residents from other parts of Gary in the late 1940s, the neighborhood became increasingly a resort community. It also became a segregated white community, with African-Americans banned from the beaches, and also from the neighborhood except for day workers.In 1967, Richard Hatcher was elected mayor of Gary, becoming the first African-American mayor of any major US city. The voting in his election was almost entirely along racial lines, with white Democrats voting en masse for the Republican candidate in the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
. A key exception to this was in Miller Beach, where Hatcher obtained decisive support from a group of primarily Jewish Millerites who had opposed the Wallace
Henry A. Wallace
Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the Secretary of Agriculture , and the Secretary of Commerce . In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.-Early life:Henry A...
presidential campaign in 1948 and had subsequently supported Hatcher in his bid for the Gary Common Council.
Fearing that the white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
occurring elsewhere in Gary would be replicated in Miller Beach, local residents formed the Miller Citizens Corporation (MCC) in 1971. Unlike similar groups elsewhere in the city, the goal of the MCC was not to prevent integration, but to slow the process so that events did not spiral out of control. The MCC worked to stem flight from the community with techniques including positive publicity about Miller's advantages, and banning "For Sale" signs. As part of this effort, the organization also took on environmental issues, including banning sand mining
Sand mining
Sand mining is a practice that is becoming an environmental issue as the demand for sand increases in industry and construction. Sand is mined from beaches and inland dunes and dredged from ocean beds and river beds. It is often used in manufacturing as an abrasive, for example, and it is used to...
in residential areas.
The National Lakeshore was founded in 1966 through the efforts of Senator Paul Douglas
Paul Douglas
Paul Howard Douglas was an liberal American politician and University of Chicago economist. A war hero, he was elected as a Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois from in the 1948 landslide, serving until his defeat in 1966...
, ending a struggle that had begun in the 1890s. The Lakeshore's initial boundaries, however, did not include the Miller Woods and Long Lake areas in Miller Beach. After the death of Senator Douglas in 1976, a Lakeshore expansion bill gained bipartisan support in Congress, as a memorial to him. With the bill's passage, the Lakeshore was expanded by 4,300 acres, including Miller Woods and Long Lake.
In 2002, faced with plummeting property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
revenue due to a state-imposed change in assessments of industrial property, the city of Gary nearly doubled tax rates, leading to widespread outcry. Together with other organizations around the state, the Miller Citizens Corporation lobbied successive state governments to impose tax cap
Tax cap
A tax cap places an upper bound on the amount of government tax a person might be required to pay. In this case the tax is said to be capped. Tax caps typically affect a commercial property, or the commercial portion of a mixed commercial/residential property....
s. The tax caps became law in 2008, and became part of the state constitution in 2010.
Demographics
Miller Beach began as a working-class town with a primarily Swedish-American and German-American population. The neighborhood's demographic makeup became wealthier and more diverse beginning in the late 1940s as it attracted affluent residents from elsewhere. In 1950, Miller supplanted the Horace MannAmbridge Mann
Ambridge Mann, sometimes called Ambridge-Horace Mann or Horace Mann-Ambridge, is a neighborhood in northwestern Gary, Indiana. It is bounded by the Grand Calumet River on the north, by Grant Street on the east, by Chase Street on the west, and by the Norfolk Southern railroad on the south...
neighborhood as Gary's wealthiest area, a distinction it has retained ever since. Along with other areas on Gary's periphery, Miller saw strong 70% growth during the 1950s. During this period the neighborhood was virtually all-white and heavily Jewish.
The first house in Miller Beach to be purchased by an African-American family was sold in 1964. By 1980 the neighborhood was 52% African-American. Unlike other Gary neighborhoods that saw abrupt white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
and economic dislocation during this period, Miller Beach underwent a stable and peaceful transition through the 1970s to an integrated population with most of the new African-American residents being "upwardly mobile" black professionals. Miller Beach and the previously little-developed Westside
Westside (Gary)
In Gary, "West Side" may also refer collectively to the neighborhoods west of Broadway, including Westside, Brunswick, Ambridge Mann and Tolleston....
neighborhood were the only areas in Gary to experience population growth during the 1970s.
Since early in the community's history, many people have moved to Miller Beach from nearby Chicago, "seeking a getaway from the city". Early examples included nonconformist Alice Mabel Gray, known as "Diana of the Dunes", who frequented Miller Beach and nearby Ogden Dunes
Ogden Dunes, Indiana
Ogden Dunes is a town in Portage Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,110 at the 2000 census. It is named for Francis A. Ogden, who owned the land there before his death in 1914.-History:...
in the early 1900s. In the 1950s, as it gained prominence as a resort area. Miller's many new residents included author Nelson Algren
Nelson Algren
Nelson Algren was an American writer.-Early life:Algren was born Nelson Ahlgren Abraham in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Goldie and Gerson Abraham. At the age of three he moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois where they lived in a working-class, immigrant neighborhood on the South Side...
, who bought a house on the East Lagoon with the proceeds from the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
and The Man With the Golden Arm
The Man with the Golden Arm
The Man with the Golden Arm is a 1955 American drama film, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Algren, which tells the story of a heroin addict who gets clean while in prison, but struggles to stay that way in the outside world. It stars Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold...
. Another wave of immigration from Chicago began in the 1990s.
Natural environment
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
, with only a few isolated pockets remaining. Sand oak savanna, of which Miller Woods provides "one of the finest in the Chicago region", is both globally and state imperiled.
This varied landscape of dunes and wetlands is the legacy of fluctuations in Lake Michigan and the Grand Calumet River since the last Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
. The Wisconsinan glaciation
Wisconsinan glaciation
The Wisconsin Glacial Episode was the most recent major advance of the North American Laurentide ice sheet. Globally, this advance is known as the last glacial period. The Wisconsin glaciation extended from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago, between the Eemian interglacial and the current...
ended in the Miller Beach area around 18,000 years ago, forming Glacial Lake Chicago as the glaciers melted. Some boreal species remained in hospitable habitats after the climate had warmed, while more heat-tolerant species such as the six-lined racerunner and prickly pear cactus moved in during the Holocene climatic optimum
Holocene climatic optimum
The Holocene Climate Optimum was a warm period during roughly the interval 9,000 to 5,000 years B.P.. This event has also been known by many other names, including: Hypsithermal, Altithermal, Climatic Optimum, Holocene Optimum, Holocene Thermal Maximum, and Holocene Megathermal.This warm period...
to inhabit the mesic uplands.
After the glaciers retreated, factors including isostatic rebound of the earth's crust led to a series of different lake levels, each of which left a mark on the landscape. During the Algonquin stage
Glacial Lake Algonquin
Lake Algonquin was a proglacial lake that existed in east-central North America at the time of the last ice age. Parts of the former lake are now Lake Huron, Georgian Bay and inland portions of northern Michigan....
, the dune-and-swale ridges of the Tolleston Beach were formed across much of the Calumet Region, including the southern part of Miller Beach. The later and lower Nipissing stage created the high dunes that mark the northern, lakeward part of Miller Beach. Around 2600 BP, the Grand Calumet River formed; prior to the 19th century, it emptied into Lake Michigan at Marquette Park
Marquette Park (Gary)
Marquette Park, originally called Lake Front Park, is a municipal park completely surrounded by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Its primary elements include 1.4 miles of white sand Lake Michigan beaches, inland ponds, impressively high sand dunes, wetlands, a lagoon and indigenous oak...
in Miller Beach, where the Grand Calumet Lagoons are today. The direction of the Grand Calumet was changed in 1862. Because the river is nearly flat, however, the direction of flow through the lagoons sometimes reverses after heavy rains.
Flora and fauna
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore located in northwest Indiana and managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966. The national lakeshore runs for nearly along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, from Gary, Indiana, on the west to Michigan...
, which includes large areas in and around Miller Beach, is a place of extremely high biodiversity. The neighborhood's Miller Woods
Miller Woods
Miller Woods is an area in the far western part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, in Gary, Indiana, in and near the neighborhood of Miller Beach, and south and west of the Gary Works steel mill. The area is home to the federally endangered Karner Blue butterfly and the federally threatened...
area alone is home to 287 species of plants and animals, including the federally endangered Karner Blue
Karner Blue
The Karner Blue, Lycaeides melissa samuelis, is a small, blue butterfly found in small areas of New Jersey, the Great Lakes region, southern New Hampshire, and the Capital District region of New York. The butterfly, whose lifecycle depends on the wild blue lupine flower , is classified as an...
butterfly and the federally threatened Pitcher's thistle
Pitcher's thistle
The Pitcher's thistle , sometimes called dune thistle, is a species of thistle native to sand dune shorelines along the upper Great Lakes. It grows endemically only in Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario. It is listed by the U.S...
.
At 1,445 plant species, the National Lakeshore has more species per unit of area than any other national park in the United States. Among these, numerous species of orchids are found in the neighborhood's Miller Woods area, including the Northern fringed orchid
Platanthera hyperborea
Description: Platanthera hyperborea is a green to yellowish-green perennial, monocot herb growing 10–90 cm.Similar species: Platanthera hyperborea is similar to Platanthera dilatata, the two hybridize freely, and produce intermediate offspring, the labellum, is strongly dilated at the base in...
and snake-mouth orchid
Pogonia ophioglossoides
Pogonia ophioglossoides is a species of orchid occurring from central Canada to the east-central and eastern United States. It is the type species of the genus Pogonia. It is also known as the "Snake Mouth Orchid"....
. Some plant species found in Miller Woods, such as the fame flower, grow nowhere else in the Indiana Dunes.
A wide range of species of wild mammals inhabit the natural areas of Miller Beach, including the Virginia opossum
Virginia Opossum
The Virginia opossum , commonly known as the North American opossum or tlacuache in Mexico, is the only marsupial found in North America north of Mexico. A solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat, and thus the largest opossum, it is a successful opportunist...
, prairie deer mouse
Peromyscus maniculatus
Peromyscus maniculatus is a rodent native to North America. It is most commonly called the Deer Mouse, although that name is common to most species of Peromyscus and is fairly widespread across the continent, with the major exception being the southeast United States and the far north.Like other...
, fox squirrel
Fox Squirrel
The fox squirrel is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America...
, and beaver
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
. The coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
, which returned to the area in the 1990s, is the region's largest wild predator, and the white-tailed deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
is its largest herbivore. Although no definitive survey of local bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s has been conducted, several species are believed to be present in the area, including the endangered Indiana myotis.
Miller Beach and the adjacent West Beach
West Beach
West Beach may be the names of several places:*West Beach, South Australia*West Beach, Western Australia*West Beach *West Beach, Beverly, Massachusetts...
area of the National Lakeshore provide a stopping point for many migratory birds, thanks to their position at the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan, . The Audubon Society has consequently designated both areas as Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
s. In particular, the neighborhood's beachfront is known as one of the best areas in the Midwest for observing jaegers during their autumn migration, and also lies under a spring flyway of the sandhill crane
Sandhill Crane
The Sandhill Crane is a large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird references habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills in the American Midwest...
. Migrant birds stopping at Long Lake include the state-endangered least bittern
Least Bittern
The Least Bittern is a small wading bird, the smallest heron found in the Americas.This bird's underparts and throat are white with light brown streaks. Their face and the sides of the neck are light brown; they have yellow eyes and a yellow bill. The adult male is glossy greenish black on the...
and Virginia rail
Virginia Rail
The Virginia Rail, Rallus limicola, is a small waterbird, of the family Rallidae.Adults are mainly brown, darker on the back and crown, with orange-brown legs. They have long toes, a short tail and a long slim reddish bill...
.
Miller Woods is home to 18 species of reptiles and amphibians, giving it one of the most diverse herpetofauna in the Indiana Dunes. These include the Fowler's toad, the six-lined racerunner and the state-endangered Blanding's turtle
Blanding's Turtle
Blanding's turtle is a semi-aquatic turtle of the family Emydidae. It is considered to be an endangered species throughout much of its range.-Taxonomy:...
. In addition, the slender glass lizard
Slender glass lizard
The Slender Glass Lizard, is a legless lizard which can attain a length of up to 1 meter. Two subspecies are recognised.- Subspecies :*Western Slender Glass Lizard, Ophisaurus attenuatus attenuatus...
inhabits the Inland Marsh area in the neighborhood's southeast.
Society
The Miller Citizens Corporation (MCC) has played a key role in Miller Beach politics and society since its foundation in 1971. Originally founded to help prevent white flightWhite flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
and disruption during the sudden changes of the 1970s, the MCC quickly expanded into other ways of promoting community stability, including through environmental preservation and zoning ordinances. In the 21st century, the MCC has also been active in addressing city fees and taxation issues.
Other major civic organizations in the neighborhood include the Humane Society of Northwest Indiana and Crisis Center. Located in Miller Beach since 1988, Crisis Center provides crisis intervention
Crisis intervention
Crisis Intervention can be defined as emergency psychological care aimed at assisting individuals in a crisis situation to restore equilibrium to their biopsychosocial functioning and to minimise the potential for psychological trauma...
and suicide prevention services to teens and adults nationwide.
Miller Beach has had a vibrant religious life dating back to 1874, when the Swedish-speaking Bethel Lutheran church was organized, meeting originally in the Miller schoolhouse. The town's first English-speaking church, Chapel of the Dunes, was built in 1901. Miller is unusual among communities in the region, in that both of these early churches are still standing. The Roman Catholic parish of St. Mary of the Lake was established in 1929, under the Gary diocese
Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary is a Roman Catholic diocese in Indiana. It was founded on December 10, 1956.-Bishops:#Andrew Gregory Grutka #Norbert Felix Gaughan #Dale Joseph Melczek...
. Miller Beach is also home to Gary's only synagogue still in operation, Temple Israel, a Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
congregation founded in 1910.
The Miller Garden Club, founded in 2000, hosts an annual garden walk and plant sale. Miller also hosts several community gardens, one of which is a joint project between Miller's Lutheran and Jewish congregations.
Numerous festivals are held in Miller through the year, including the South Shore Air Show at Marquette Park. The biweekly farmer's market also functions as a sort of community fair, with information booths from groups such as the Miller Historical Society. In 2011, Miller was the site of the only gay pride parade
Gay pride parade
Pride parades for the LGBT community are events celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture. The events also at times serve as demonstrations for legal rights such as same-sex marriage...
in Northwest Indiana
Northwest Indiana
Northwest Indiana, also known as the South Shore and The Calumet Region or simply The Region, comprises Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana. This region neighbors Lake Michigan and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area...
. Called "Northwest Indiana Rainbow Days," the annual parade has been held in Gary since 2006.
Miller Beach is part of the First District of the Gary Common Council, which is currently represented by Councilwoman Marilyn Krusas. Residents additionally vote for three at-large council seats.
Economy
The economy of Miller Beach is dominated by retail and tourism, with no heavy industry. Because of its affluent population, Miller is also able to attract more luxury high-end housing developments than other Gary neighborhoods. Many Miller residents either commute to Chicago or have their primary residence in Chicago and vacation at Miller Beach.Home values in Miller are the highest of any area within the municipal boundaries of Gary. In 2006, a home on Miller's lakefront sold for more than US$1 million for the first time. As of 2008, the "East Edge" development in northeastern Miller Beach was the city's most expensive, with single-family home prices in excess of $500,000. As of 2000, Miller's 4,773 housing units had an owner-occupancy rate of 47.4% and a vacancy rate of 10.3%.
Commercial activity in Miller Beach is clustered primarily along Lake Street and U.S. 20, in the neighborhood's southwestern corner. The Lake Street corridor is a traditional downtown area, described by the city government as having a "pedestrian-friendly, 'Main Street' character." The downtown area has the highest walkability
Walkability
Walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walking. Walkability has many health, environmental, and economic benefits. Factors influencing walkability include the presence or absence and quality of footpaths, sidewalks or other pedestrian right-of-ways, traffic and road conditions,...
of any part of Miller Beach. Most retail catering to neighborhood residents is concentrated along this corridor. Near the southern end of downtown, he historic Miller freight depot was relocated just a few yards from its original location and is now the main dining room for Miller Pizza Station, a popular restaurant in the downtown area.
The U.S. 20 corridor, running along Miller's southern end and partially shared with the Aetna
Aetna (Gary)
Aetna is a neighborhood in northeastern Gary, Indiana, south of Miller Beach and east of Interstate 65. As of 2000, the neighborhood had a population of 4,942, which was 83% black and 11% white....
neighborhood, is another commercial center. Businesses along U.S. 20 cater primarily to highway and interstate travelers. This corridor is also home to several strip club
Strip club
A strip club is an adult entertainment venue in which striptease or other erotic or exotic dance is regularly performed. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, but can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style....
s, a source of frequent anger from community activists.
During the summer months, the Miller Beach Farmers' Market provides an alternative source of fresh food. Begun in 2008 and sponsored by the Methodist church, the Farmers' Market seeks to promote a sustainable local economy and allow residents to purchase high-quality food within Gary.
Education
Public schooling in Miller Beach, is provided by the Gary Community School CorporationGary Community School Corporation
Gary Community School Corporation serves most students who reside in Gary, Indiana, United States.-School Uniforms:All GCSC students from pre-Kindergarten through the 12 grade are required to wear school uniforms...
. Public elementary schools in Miller include Marquette Elementary, near Marquette Park, and Banneker Elementary near Long Lake. Miller's public secondary schools include Wirt Emerson VPA, formerly William A. Wirt High School
William A. Wirt High School
William A Wirt Senior High School was a four year public high school of the Gary Community School Corporation in Gary, Indiana. In May 2009 the school announced that after over 70 years, it would finally be closing...
. Wirt Emerson is a magnet school for the visual and performing arts, serving grades 6-12.
Charter schools in Miller Beach include KIPP: Lead College Prep Charter School
KIPP: Lead College Prep Charter School
Lead College Prep Charter School is a charter school in the Miller Beach neighborhood of Gary, Indiana, serving students in fifth through eighth grades....
and the Charter School of the Dunes, located adjacent to the Lake Street Beach. Like all charter schools in Gary
Gary Charter Schools
Gary Charter Schools serve students who reside in Gary, Indiana, United States. Though operated by different corporations, all current charter schools in Gary are sponsored by Ball State University.-Schools:- See also :*Gary Community School Corporation...
, these schools are sponsored by Ball State University
Ball State University
Ball State University is a state-run research university located in Muncie, Indiana. It is also known as Ball State or simply BSU.Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans and includes 106 buildings...
. At the neighborhood's edge, a private religious school is operated by Christ Baptist Church in the Glen Ryan area; another private school is located in Aetna. The Miller Beach area is also served by the Roman Catholic schools of the Gary diocese
Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary is a Roman Catholic diocese in Indiana. It was founded on December 10, 1956.-Bishops:#Andrew Gregory Grutka #Norbert Felix Gaughan #Dale Joseph Melczek...
. As of 2011, there were no Catholic schools in Miller Beach, although the local parish did operate a K-8 institution, Saint Mary of The Lake School, from 1949 to 1993.
Nearby institutions of higher learning include Indiana University Northwest
Indiana University Northwest
Indiana University Northwest is a regional university campus in the Indiana University system in Gary, Indiana, USA, established in 1963.-Courses:...
in Gary's Glen Park
Glen Park
Glen Park can refer to:* Glen Park, San Francisco** Glen Park Station on the BART system* Glen Park, Toronto* Glen Park, Williamsville, New York* A district within the fictional city of Los Santos, San Andreas, from the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas...
neighborhood, Purdue University Calumet
Purdue University Calumet
Purdue University Calumet is a school within the Purdue University system that is located in Hammond, Indiana in the Northwest Indiana portion of the Chicago metropolitan area.-Schools:Purdue University Calumet is academically organized into six schools:...
in Hammond, and Valparaiso University
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso University, known colloquially as Valpo, is a regionally accredited private university located in the city of Valparaiso in the U.S. state of Indiana. Founded in 1859, it consists of five undergraduate colleges, a graduate school, a nursing school and a law school...
in Valparaiso. There are no colleges or universities within Miller Beach itself. The 2005-2009 American Community Survey
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey is an ongoing statistical survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, sent to approximately 250,000 addresses monthly . It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census...
found that approximately 28% of Miller Beach residents had a bachelor's degree or higher.
Additional community education facilities include the Paul Douglas Center for Environmental Education in Miller Woods
Miller Woods
Miller Woods is an area in the far western part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, in Gary, Indiana, in and near the neighborhood of Miller Beach, and south and west of the Gary Works steel mill. The area is home to the federally endangered Karner Blue butterfly and the federally threatened...
, which provides environmental education
Environmental education
Environmental education refers to organized efforts to teach about how natural environments function and, particularly, how human beings can manage their behavior and ecosystems in order to live sustainably. The term is often used to imply education within the school system, from primary to...
to residents and visitors. Numerous scheduled lectures, classes and workshops are held there each year. The trails around the Douglas Center additionally provide a self-guided nature tour.
Downtown Miller Beach is home to the South Shore Centre for the Arts, located in the building once occupied by the Miller School. The Centre provides classes for the general public on subjects including dance, piano, voice, and self-defense. The Centre is also home to the South Shore Dance Alliance, a "pre-professional" contemporary dance company drawing members from throughout Northwest Indiana and performing throughout the Chicago area.
Transportation
Miller Beach lies near the nexus of four major interstates: 65, 80, 90, and 94, although none of them pass directly through the neighborhood. Interstate 65Interstate 65
Interstate 65 is a major Interstate Highway in the United States. The southern terminus is located at an intersection with Interstate 10 in Mobile, Alabama, and its northern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 90 , U.S. Route 12, and U.S...
reaches its northern terminus just to the west of Miller. Joined as the Borman Expressway
Borman Expressway
The Frank Borman Expressway is an east–west highway in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Indiana, named after astronaut and former Eastern Airlines CEO Frank Borman. The expressway consists of parts of Interstate 80 , I-94, and U.S. Highway 6 , as well as a short section of US 41...
, Interstates 80 and 94 have exits just southwest and south of Miller, at Interstate 65 and at Indiana State Road 51
Indiana State Road 51
State Road 51 in the U.S. State of Indiana is a north–south route on the state highway system in northwest Indiana. It consists of a route about long from a point on U.S. Route 30 east of Merrillville and west of Valparaiso, north to U.S. Route 20 in Gary...
in Lake Station. The Indiana Toll Road
Indiana Toll Road
The Indiana Toll Road, officially the Indiana East–West Toll Road, is a toll road that runs for east–west across northern Indiana from the Illinois state line to the Ohio state line...
(Interstate 90) shares both the Borman's exit at State Road 51, and the Interstate 65 exit. Using the Toll Road, Miller Beach is 36 miles from downtown Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, with an estimated travel time of 50 minutes.
Surface highways traversing Miller Beach include U.S. 12
U.S. Route 12 in Indiana
In the U.S. state of Indiana, U.S. Route 12 is a historical east–west arterial highway that runs along the Lake Michigan shoreline. In the early 1920s, it was the most important route between Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan. Most of the route has since been supplanted by Interstate 94...
, the earliest highway to serve the area. U.S. 20
U.S. Route 20 in Indiana
U.S. Route 20 in Indiana is a main east–west highway that is parallel to the Indiana Toll Road. The western terminus of US 20 is at the Illinois state line and the eastern terminus is at the Ohio state line. US 20 through Whiting, East Chicago, and Gary is concurrent with...
also passes along the community's southern edge. Highways 12 and 20 connect Miller to the interstates, downtown Gary, and nearby towns of Porter County such as Portage
Portage, Indiana
Portage is a city in Portage Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 36,828 as of the 2010 census. It is the largest city in Porter County, and third largest in Northwest Indiana.-Geography:...
and Chesterton
Chesterton, Indiana
Chesterton is a town in Westchester, Jackson and Liberty townships, Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 13,068 at the 2010 census. The three towns of Chesterton, Burns Harbor, and Porter are known as the tri-towns or the Duneland area....
. Additionally, Indiana State Road 51
Indiana State Road 51
State Road 51 in the U.S. State of Indiana is a north–south route on the state highway system in northwest Indiana. It consists of a route about long from a point on U.S. Route 30 east of Merrillville and west of Valparaiso, north to U.S. Route 20 in Gary...
has its northern terminus at U.S. 20, at Miller's the southern limit, and connect Miller Beach to communities south of the Little Calumet River, such as Lake Station and Hobart
Hobart, Indiana
Hobart is home to many thriving businesses in its downtown shopping district, including the historic Art Theatre.Hobart is also home to the Westfield Southlake Shopping Mall and many surrounding retailers and restaurants, although most businesses are required to list their addresses as Merrillville...
.
The all-electric commuter trains of the NICTD South Shore Line stop at Miller Station
Miller (NICTD)
Miller is a South Shore Line commuter station serving the neighborhood of Miller Beach in eastern Gary, Indiana. The Miller stop is one of three NICTD electric train stations within the current municipal boundaries of Gary....
. On weekdays, Miller Station is served by 14 eastbound trains and 12 westbound trains. The South Shore Line has served the neighborhood since 1908, when the line was built as an interurban railroad by tycoon Samuel Insull
Samuel Insull
Samuel Insull was an Anglo-American innovator and investor based in Chicago who greatly contributed to creating an integrated electrical infrastructure in the United States. Insull was notable for purchasing utilities and railroads using holding companies, as well as the abuse of them...
.
Miller Beach is served by the Route 13 buses of the Gary Public Transportation Corporation
Gary Public Transportation Corporation
The Gary Public Transportation Corporation is a commuter bus system in Gary, Indiana that offers service to numerous stops throughout the city and neighboring suburbs...
(GPTC), which do a full circle of the neighborhood and terminate at the GPTC hub station at Gary Metro Center in downtown Gary. At the Metro Center, passengers can transfer to buses serving other parts of Gary and towns as distant as Hammond
Hammond, Indiana
Hammond is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 80,830 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Hammond is located at ....
and Crown Point
Crown Point, Indiana
As of the census of 2010, there were 27,317 people and 10,976 households in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 88.20% White, 6.30% African American, 0.20% Native American, 1.80% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 1.90% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races...
. The Metro Center is also served by Greyhound buses
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...
, and is the eastern terminus for many South Shore Line trains.
A 2.0-mile bicycle trail, the Marquette Greenway, runs through National Lakeshore property from downtown Miller Beach to West Beach in Porter County. Paved with fine limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, as of 2010, the Marquette Greenway was one of only two bicycle trails within Gary. The Gary Green Links plan calls for additional trails and bikeway
Bikeway
A Bikeway is a route, way or path which in some manner is specifically designed and /or designated for bicycle travel.-See also:*Bicycle boulevard*Bicycle trail*Bicycle transportation engineering*Foreshoreway*Greenway* List of cycleways...
s connecting Miller Beach to other towns and neighborhoods. As of 2011, however, the 46403 ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
, which chiefly encompasses Miller Beach and Aetna, has a mean Walk Score of 30 out of 100, tied for the lowest walkability
Walkability
Walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walking. Walkability has many health, environmental, and economic benefits. Factors influencing walkability include the presence or absence and quality of footpaths, sidewalks or other pedestrian right-of-ways, traffic and road conditions,...
in Gary.
Landmarks
Many of the notable sites in Miller Beach are located within its large lakefront park, Marquette ParkMarquette Park (Gary)
Marquette Park, originally called Lake Front Park, is a municipal park completely surrounded by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Its primary elements include 1.4 miles of white sand Lake Michigan beaches, inland ponds, impressively high sand dunes, wetlands, a lagoon and indigenous oak...
. Covering 159.4 acres of dunes and beaches, the park was designed in the 1920s by pioneering landscape architect Jens Jensen
Jens Jensen
Jens August Jensen was an Australian politician and Minister for the Navy.Jensen was born in Ballarat, Victoria and educated at Ballarat, leaving school at 11. He became a rabbit-hawker and miner at Beaconsfield, Tasmania. In July 1885 he married Elizabeth Frances Broadhurst; she died in 1894...
. Historic structures within Marquette Park include the Chanute Aquatorium and the Marquette Park Pavilion, both designed by Prairie School
Prairie School
Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...
architect George W. Maher
George W. Maher
George Washington Maher was a significant contributor to the Prairie School-style of architecture during the first-quarter of the 20th century. He also was known for blending the traditional with the Arts & Crafts-style. According to architectural historian H...
. The beach of the park, known as Marquette Beach, has been a very popular summer destination since the early 20th century. Because of Octave Chanute's experiments in the area, the park has been designated a National Landmark of Soaring
National Landmark of Soaring
The National Landmark of Soaring program acknowledges people, places and events significant in the history of gliders and motorless aviation in the United States.It is administered by the National Soaring Museum. The program was established in 1980....
.
A bronze statue of the park's namesake, Father Jacques Marquette
Jacques Marquette
Father Jacques Marquette S.J. , sometimes known as Père Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan...
, stands at the park entrance. The statue was installed in 1931 when the park, formerly known as Lake Front Park, was rededicated under its current name. It was created by beaux-arts architectural sculptor Henry Hering
Henry Hering
Henry Hering was an American sculptor who was born New York City on February 15, 1874 and died there on January 17, 1949.-Early career:He was a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens at Cooper Union and of Philip Martiny at the Art Students League of New York...
, and has an ornate limestone base designed by the Walker and Weeks
Walker and Weeks
Walker and Weeks was an architecture firm based in Cleveland, Ohio founded by Frank Ray Walker and Harry F. Weeks .-Background:...
architectural firm. Restoration work on the statue began in October 2010. The Marquette Park Pavilion, constructed in 1924 by Maher, stands immediately across from the statue.
The Pavilion sits on the south bank of the East Lagoon of the Grand Calumet River. The lagoon has been extensively landscaped in accordance with Jensen's park design. In the center of the lagoon stands a small man-made island, Patterson Island, built by the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
in the 1930s. The island is connected to the shore by two footbridges: a suspension bridge on the north and a Japanese-style bridge on the south.
As of 2011, a US$28 million project to improve Marquette Park was underway, funded by a grant from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority. Begun in 2009, the project was the first capital improvement to Marquette Park since 1931. In addition to Marquette Park itself, the project covers the entire lakefront of Miller Beach, including the Lake Street and Wells Street beaches, for a total of 241 acres.
Two buildings in Miller Beach are on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. The Miller Town Hall, built in 1911, was added to the Register in 1978. The Chanute Aquatorium on the Marquette Park lakefront was added to the Register in 1994. A Classical Revival structure designed by George W. Maher, the Aquatorium was built in 1922. Originally a bathhouse
Bathhouse
Bathhouse may refer to* Public bathing, historical public baths* Gay bathhouse, a place where males, typically homosexuals, go to have sex with other customers...
, it fell into disuse in the mid-20th century and was closed and nearly demolished in 1971. With the support of a society of local residents, the building was remodeled as a combination of an aviation museum and public event space.