Michigan City, Indiana

Thursday September 27th we left St. Joseph/Benton Harbor headed to New Buffalo, MI.  We called the municipal docks there and they had no space large enough to fit us.  The other marina in New Buffalo also did not have a space large enough.  So plan B went into effect.  Although one more day in Michigan was planned, instead we continued south along the western edge of the Lake Michigan shore to Michigan City, Indiana.  Yes Michigan City is in the state of Indiana (back in 1832 mayor Isaac Elston laid out the city as the terminus of Michigan Road, hence the name).  Michigan City is approximately 40 west of South Bend, IN.

Keith and I got tied up by around 2 PM and took our bikes out to ride around town.  There is a nice downtown with some stores.  Like many towns that were industrial in the mid 1800s to mid 1900s there has been some hard times.  About a third of the store fronts are empty, but it looks like there is a push in the area to revitalize.  There was an outlet mall which we explored.  Neither of us really needed anything, but it certainly was handy for boaters as it was an easy walk or bike ride to get there.  Michigan City also has a large public beach and park (Washington Park) along the Lake Michigan shoreline that likely gets a lot of use particularly during the summer.  One thing we did not expect to find was the Washington Park Zoo.

Spread across about 15 acres, this zoo has quite a story.  Back in 1925 a retired animal trainer moved his brown bear "Jake" to the Washington Park lakefront in hopes the bear would get more visitors.  Additional animals and birds were soon brought to the park by the local fire department which at the time sheltered abandoned exotic animals.  Thus the zoo began.  Within three years a zoo board was started, and with the help of several Depression Era agencies the zoo was moved to its current location within the park and redesigned.  Eleven of its buildings are on the National Registry of Historic Places.  Although the zoo now has between 220-250 animals of 80-100 species at any given time, they continue to be a sanctuary for misplaced or illegally obtained wild pets from the region.  They also provide a home for some wild animals that have injuries making life in the wild impossible for them.  Here are some of the animals we saw during our visit.

Grizzly Bear (I dare you to come take my bone)

Gray Wolf Playing Coy

Cougar napping with his Paw in his Mouth (Very cute!)

Let sleeping Tigers lie

Baby Zebu just 5 days old (More cuteness!)

Peacock

River Otter

Loins and tigers and bears, and Captain Keith. Oh my!

Some construction on The Castle Building; one of the older buildings

We also hiked to the top of the Viewing Tower another Depression Era building on the property

View from the top of The Tower with Chicago Skyline off in the distance

After spending the morning at the zoo, we had lunch on the boat and then walked over to the Michigan City Old Lighthouse.  This was the first and only lighthouse in Indiana and was built in 1837.   The first keeper Edmond B. Harrison earned $350 a year.  The light was a 5th order Fresnel lens lighted first with whale oil, then some years later lard, and finally kerosene, which was cheaper than lard oil.  In March of 1861 Miss Harriet E. Colfax became the lighthouse keeper.  She served as the Michigan City Lighthouse keeper for 43 years, retiring in 1904 at the age of 80.  This was the same year that the Pierhead Light was built at the entrance to the breakwater.   The Old Michigan City Lighthouse is now a museum and open for visitors.

Front of the Old Michigan City Lighthouse

The chain in the foreground is a memorial to the SS Eastland tragedy

On July 24, 1915 the SS Eastland and 4 other Great Lakes passenger steamers were chartered to take employees of Western Electric Company's Hawthorne Works in Cicero, Illinois to a day long picnic in Michigan City, Indiana.  By 7:10 AM the Eastland, docked at the Chicago River in downtown, had reached her capacity of 2,572 passengers.  The ship started to list and despite immediate efforts by the crew to right her using her ballast tanks, at 7:28 AM she rolled completely onto her port side in 20 feet of water at the docks.  Hundreds of people, many of them children, were trapped below decks by in rushing water and heavy furniture that shifted during the roll.  In all, 844 passengers and 4 crew perished.  This disaster was the largest loss of life from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes.  The chain across the front of the Old Michigan City Lighthouse has 844 links in memorial to the passengers who lost their lives that day before reaching Michigan City.

Back of Lighthouse

Upstairs room in the lighthouse

Michigan Pierhead Light with rain clouds in the background

As the rain clouds moved in, Keith and I headed back to the boat.  We hope to get to Bartlett's Fish Camp tonight for dinner and weather permitting be on our way to Hammond, IN tomorrow.  Hammond will be our last stop and conclude our trip on Lake Michigan.