Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was nearly 100 years in the making

In 1916, Chicagoan Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, suggested creating a Sand Dunes National Park.

That sparked the first conflict of whether Indiana’s shoreline should be industrialized or, at least in part, be preserved for the future. Ecologists like Henry Cowles supported the efforts along with members of The Prairie Club who put on pageants to draw attention to the Indiana dunes. Some of the dunes were already gone at this time, mined in the name of industry. Others pointed to the success of U.S. Steel Corp. along Gary’s shoreline and supported maintaining the entire length of shore ripe for industrial expansion.

The creation of the park, however, was delayed because of World War I.

Once the war was over, the push to preserve the dunes was reinvigorated. Instead of setting aside land for a national park, the state of Indiana created Indiana Dunes State Park. That didn’t satisfy those pushing for a national park. The efforts to carve out a national park continued, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s gained the attention of Illinois Sen. Paul Douglas and Dorothy Buell, a housewife from Ogden Dunes.

The fight continued until a compromise was reached under the John F. Kennedy administration: Create a national park if a Great Lakes port could also be founded on the Lake Michigan shore. The agreement was named the Kennedy Compromise. Douglas made sure the Port of Indiana would come only with the authorization of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

After Johnson signed the bill, it took several years to acquire about 8,300 acres inside the original boundary and open the park. Since its authorization, Congress has authorized the expansion of its boundaries four times, in 1976, 1980, 1986 and 1992. The park now comprises more than 15,000 acres across three northern Indiana counties and includes a combination of historical sites, beaches and unique ecological sites.