Editor’s note: On Dec. 11, 1816, Indiana became the 19th state in the Union. On Jan. 28, 1836, Porter County was created. A year later, on Jan. 18, Lake County became independent. As the state celebrates its bicentennial, the Post-Tribune will be taking a regular look back at the history of Northwest Indiana.
A workman in a cherry-picker adjusts the ceiling lights inside the W.F. Wellman Exhibit Hall at the Indiana Welcome Center and carefully drives his basket along the high ceiling so he won’t crash into the replica of Octave Chanute’s glider.
On the exhibition hall floor below, JoAnne Shafer, president of the Munster Historical Society, is guided away from her spot beneath the cherry picker and begins to unwrap the plastic protecting an antique dress from the morning’s inconvenient downpour of rain.
The mahogany chemise dress with side pleats, peach-colored ruffle trim and art deco embroidery with hints of bright blue and a matching peach cloche hat belonged to Dora Schoon and is from 1925. It is one of the first pieces unpacked for “200 Years Along the South Shore” an exhibit scheduled to open Monday and run through Oct. 2.
The exhibit will honor the history of Northwest Indiana in the state’s bicentennial year. It will feature photos, furniture, clothing, farm equipment, sports memorabilia, items from the Cold War, churches and schools and more.
The artifacts are presented by area historical societies from towns throughout Lake and Porter counties. Some of the material dates back to the mid-1800s when pioneers first settled the Calumet Region.
“The oldest thing we brought to exhibit is the 1882 humpback trunk donated by June Haan Goddard,” said Shafer.
The trunk belonged to Goddard’s grandmother, Elizabeth Moss Ellison, and it was purchased new for her to use a honeymoon trunk. The trunk still contains Ellison’s wedding gown and veil.
The Munster Historical Society will also display parlor furniture from the Munster’s family home. The furniture, which is dated to the late 1800s is from a permanent display at the Munster History Museum in the Kaske House at the southeast corner of Ridge Road and Columbia Avenue.
“We also have a portrait of Jacob Munster with his wife and 12 of his 13 children,” said Shafer.
Jacob Munster was a Civil War veteran who fought for the Union, according to Schafer. He returned from the war to run the Munster General Store in 1870 and became the postmaster. It was customary to refer to an area by the postmaster’s name. Many towns, including Munster, were eventually named for their postmasters.
Alice Smedstad, treasurer for the Merrillville-Ross Township Historical Society, laughed as she held up a strange net made from rope. “Can you guess what this was used for? It is a fly netting used to keep the flies off of the plow horses,” she said.
The net has fringes along each side and the farmer would throw the net over the horse’s back like a blanket, she said. When the horse shakes, the fringes fly up and scatter the flies.
She also has a worn original of Hardesty’s Sectional Map, which details who owned acreage in Lake County in the 1870s. Nearby is a big black can used by local Civil Defense to hold emergency drinking water during the Cold War era. She also has a lot of items representing the history of the Lake County Fair.
Smedstad pulls a pastor’s chair into the exhibition hall on a dolly. The chair dates back to about 1877 and was used at the old Merrillville Methodist Church. Banners from the church will also be part of the exhibit.
Smedstad feels a closeness to some of the items on display as her ancestors were among Lake County’s original pioneers and helped to build the church and provide its amenities.
“I’m a descendant of the Pierce and Saxton families on my mom’s side,” said Smedstad. “The Pierce family came to the area in 1835 and the Saxtons came in 1837.”
The Welcome Center is the perfect place for a historical exhibit such as this, according to Erika Dahl, director of communications for the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority. The Center is a bounty of history on its own. The building was designed as a visual of the region to portray the steel industry, Lake Michigan, sand dunes, smoke stacks, a farm silo and the Kankakee River.
Just outside the front door, a statue titled “Triple-Dog-Dare” commemorates an unforgettable scene from Jean Shepard’s “A Christmas Story.”
Inside Wellman Hall, a new addition to the permanent collection at the Welcome Center, is the illustration “Calumet Region: The Workshop of America.” The landscape illustration is 16 feet long and dates back to the 1920s or 1930s, said Dahl.
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The image was originally used to promote the region’s proximity to Chicago and Lake Michigan and showcase local industry. The image is painted from an aerial perspective — but without the benefit of aerial photography. Those familiar with the history of the painting say the artist is believed to have painted it from maps and descriptions.
Some of the locations on the map were proposals, such as the Calumet Interstate Harbor and the Municipal Air Harbor at Wolf Lake.
More recently it was retrieved from storage from the Hammond Public Library and gifted to the SSCVA. Dahl said the Convention and Visitors Authority hopes to restore the painting to its original condition.
Nancy Coltun Webster is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.