The Indiana Dunes State Park was founded 100 years ago, but years before then, important contributions from six people were key in making it happen.
About 100 people gathered on the patio on the east side of Dunes Pavilion under gray, threatening skies Saturday morning for a centennial celebration.
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During the ceremony, a historical marker was unveiled that recognizes the contributions of: Henry Cowles, a pioneer ecologist; Jens Jensen, a landscaper; Frank Dudley, an artist; Stephen Mather, the first National Parks Service director; Col. Richard Lieber, the father of Indiana’s state park system; and Bess Sheehan, who tirelessly lobbied for the park’s establishment.
“They all recognized the same thing. This place was extraordinary,” said Brandt Baughman, director of the Indiana State Parks, who once served as the Indiana Dunes State Park manager.
“What they preserved for us is breathtaking in its diversity. Sand dunes rise like monuments along 3 miles of restless coastline. Ancient black oak forests stand sentry over centuries of history. Wooded wetlands and buttonbush marshes teem with life,” Baughman said.
Today, the Indiana Dunes State Park covers 2,182 acres and has 3 miles of beachfront that draws around 2 million visitors annually. In 1966, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was recognized by the federal government, which eventually led to the formal creation of Indiana Dunes National Park in 2019. The neighboring national park covers 15 miles of lakefront and encompasses 15,349 acres.
Dan Barriball, a treasurer for the Friends of Indiana Dunes, gave the audience a history lesson about the unique contributions of the six people who laid the foundation for the Indiana Dunes State Park.
“Without this citizen action, we would not have Indiana Dunes State Park today,” Barriball said.
A trip on a South Shore train in 1895 for Cowles, a University of Chicago graduate student, turned into a serendipitous moment.
Cowles was gazing out a train window and saw sand dunes with oak and pine trees on top. His curiosity led him to get off at the Miller stop in Gary and to hire a horse and buggy so he could examine the dunes.
As a result, Cowles wrote his doctoral thesis in 1898 on the ecological relations of the vegetation of the sand dunes on Lake Michigan. He became known as a pioneer in the new field of ecology.
“His work brought the awareness of the scientific community about the Indiana Dunes. There is something special about this place that no one else has,” Barribell said.
Jens Jensen, an immigrant from Denmark, worked as a landscaping expert for the Chicago Parks Department. He learned about using native plants for decorative designs and became a renowned expert.
Jensen also became known as “the Apostle for the Dunes” and helped to arrange for a hearing in October 1916 that advocated for the establishment of Indiana Dunes National Park.
“Our dunes are poetic. They are wonderful. They are just about the most beautiful and wonderful thing we have in the Middle West,” Jensen stated.
Stephen Mather was the first director of the National Park Service, who was an early supporter of turning the Indiana Dunes into parkland.
Mather helped to organize a pageant in 1917 that involved more than 600 actors and drew thousands to the area that is now Porter Beach and the neighboring Indiana Dunes State Park beach.
Barriball said that America’s entry into the First World War stopped the momentum for the Indiana Dunes becoming a national park.
Frank Dudley helped to pick up the banner in promoting the Dunes. Dudley, a Chicago resident, was a member of the Prairie Club, an organization for hiking enthusiasts. Dudley loved the Dunes and had a studio near the beach, and became known for his talent in painting landscapes.
“His paintings captured the soul of the Dunes,” Barriball said.
Col. Richard Lieber, a German immigrant, is one of the unsung heroes in Hoosier history, Barriball believes.
“When the state was having its centennial in 1916, he came up with the idea of founding state parks,” Barriball said.
McCormick Creek and Turkey Run were the state’s first two parks. Lieber also “laid a lot of groundwork” for the Indiana Dunes State Park to become the state’s fourth park in 1925, Barriball said.
Bess Sheehan, as a member of a women’s club in Gary, became an advocate of the Indiana Dunes becoming a state park.
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Women’s clubs were important around the time that women won the right to vote in 1920. Sheehan traveled to women’s clubs around the state, promoting the idea of the Indiana Dunes State Park.
Sheehan spent five weeks in Indianapolis, lobbying the state legislature to ensure the creation of the Indiana Dunes State Park.
When the governor signed the bill, he handed the pen to Sheehan in recognition of her efforts.
“Our park exists today because they decided that this place was important and it needed to be saved. And their legacy is our legacy,” Barriball said.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.