History of Michigan City
and the Farmhouse
 In the late nineteenth century, the area around Michigan City,
Indiana was a land of rugged beauty with undulating sand dunes,
wildflowers, berries, white pines, oak, and beech trees. Michigan
City was becoming a thriving port town and, reflecting its name,
connected Indianapolis and the rest of the state with goods delivered
to its lakefront harbor from the east coast. The roads were rough,
and travelers rode horse-drawn carriages or wagons to reach the
bustling harbor town. Charles C. Tryon settled
in Michigan Township in 1896, and built a brick Queen Anne home,
the most popular house style of the day.
 During the next twenty-five years, the area was extremely popular
with tourists. Over 10,000 steamship passengers arrived from Chicago
every weekend to visit Michigan City and the surrounding Indiana
dunes. Big bands, amusement parks, theatres, cultural events, and
other hallmarks of the Roaring Twenties helped make Michigan City
a featured destination. However, as the Great Depression ended this
time of prosperity and our Greatest Generation served America in
World War II, the tourism and shipping industry in Michigan City
began to slow.
 After the war, Mr. Tryon sold the property to the Werner family, who farmed the land and operated a dairy farm. Typical to the times fertilizers and pesticides, were the order of the day. As a result, while environmentalists
began to focus on the preservation of the Michigan City lakefront
in the 1950's, the wetlands, natural prairies, dunes and woodlands
of Charles Tryon's day began to disappear.
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