The 2 Lighthouses of Michigan City, IN (10 pictures)

Way back when, Indiana had no shoreline on Lake Michigan. When it became a State in 1816, Congress approved that the northern boundary of Indiana be located at a point "10 miles North from the Southernmost tip of Lake Michigan". This provided approximately a 35 mile shoreline on Lake Michigan, between the States of Michigan and Illinois. There are only 2 natural tributaries flowing into the lake.

Heavy industrialization took over areas to the West, the most noted being the expansive steel mills by Gary, IN. The Eastern area around Michigan City had hopes, but never developed into a major shipping port. To help maintain the unique dune environment, Congress established the "Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Park" in 1966, encompassing 14,000 acres in a 25 mile stretch of shoreline.

When Michigan City was founded in 1833, the need for a shipping lamp consisted of a lamp on a pole. In 1837, a lighthouse was dedicated on the bank of Trail Creek.

In 1858, another lighthouse was built on the same site to replace the original, and the structure is still there today.

This facility was decommissioned in 1904 when another lighthouse was built on the East Pier in Lake Michigan. Falling into years of disrepair, it was finally taken over by the LaPorte County Historical Society, and opened as a museum in 1973. Having limited summer hours, there is a small donation fee to tour the 2 floors holding local and nautical memoribillia. The original 5th Order Fresnel lens is on display, and can be viewed online at: www.cr.nps.gov/maritime/lens/micilens.htm

So Lighthouse people have a chance to see 2 Lighthouses in Michigan City, IN.

Here is the Lighthouse on the East Pier. It is a 1/2 mile roundtrip walk from the parking lot to the Lighthouse. This is the West, or harbor side.

It is one of the few remaining lighthouses that still have the elevated catwalk for the light-keeper to get out and perform daily duties. It was automated in 1960.

East side lake view. Built in 1904 at a cost of $5,500. Brick lined and steel clad, it once housed boilers for the foghorn. There is no public admission into the building.

Most visitors never see this view of the lighthouse, taken from the lake toward the shore.

Lake Michigan can become shrouded in fog at times.

And things do get iced up in the frigid winters. (This one was mild.) That refreshing water is a contributor to lake-effect blizzards, and wind chills can reach -55.

Non-boaters use the pier to test their luck for Salmon, Trout, or Lake Perch.

Clear days can provide a view of the Chicago skyline, 35 miles to the West.

And when conditions are right, visitors are rewarded with stunning and ever changing sunsets across Lake Michigan.

If anyone is using GPS, the coordinates for the lighthouse are:
41 - 43' - 43" N, 86 - 54' - 45" W.

Thanks for looking at the lighthouses of Michigan City.