The French missionary Father Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit explorer who blazed trails as the first European pioneer to explore the Upper Mississippi River, camped out at the mouth of the Grand Calumet River at Lake Michigan in Gary’s Miller neighborhood in 1675.
A bronze statue commemorates the explorer at what’s now Maquette Park along the lakefront in Miller.
The history of Miller – long known as the Miller section of Gary and now more often referred to as the Miller Beach community – dates back centuries, going back far beyond the hulking steel mills came and forever changed the Calumet Region's marshy landscape.
A new trail will aim to tell the history of the lakefront community, which started as its own town sometimes called Miller's Junction or Miller's Station that developed around a railroad stop in 1851 and remained independent for nearly 70 years before it was annexed by the then-fast-growing city of Gary in 1918. Visit Miller Beach is partnering with NWI Thrive and the Legacy Foundation to seek to turn the new bike trail along Lake Street into a history trail with interpretative signage.
Visit Miller Beach Executive Director Peggy Vanhala Blackwell said the trail would note some of Miller’s rich history, such as how Octave Chanute conducted pioneering flight experiences that inspired the Wright Brothers there, that the National Book Award winner Nelson Algren lived and that University of Chicago Professor Henry Chandler Cowles conducted ecological studies of plant succession there. When Chicago was a hub of the film industry, Miller beaches stood in for Mexico and other exotic locales during the filming of movies like “Lost in Soudan,” “The Fall of Montezuma” and “The Plum Tree.” Film crews brought in camels and Pullman cars to stage elaborate film sets.
“Michigan City is doing a cultural trail,” Blackwell said. “I’ve been meeting and partnering with NWI Thrive project leaders about doing a history trail. There’s so much history here and it’s so well documented. It would be fun to inform the public.”
People walking and biking to Lake Michigan would be able to stop and read signs along the trail. They also could learn more on a website.
“We’re going to partner with the IUN Calumet Regional Archives to bring people to the trail and direct people to the historic sites off the trail,” she said.
The trail will complement a Discovery Hub information kiosk at the South Shore Line train station, a new directional sign at the Interstate 94 exit and informational maps around the neighborhood.
“NWI Thrive is huge because it will connect us to the Marquette Greenway,” she said. “10% of the trail comes through Miller while passing from Chicago to New Buffalo. We’re perfectly positioned for ecotourism. The more people we have hiking our trails, visiting the National Park and doing ecotourism activities, the more it will benefit the businesses and the neighborhood.”
Beverly Shores has a similar trail highlighting the lakefront town's history. In 2023, after landing an Indiana Humanities grant, it added a Heritage Trail along Broadway with 17 different signs that explain the town’s history. While walking, biking or running toward Lake Michigan, people can scan QR codes to see virtual exhibits about The Depot, the Colonial Village, the Old Boston Church, the Theater of the Dunes, the Beverly Shores Hotel and Native Americans.
The trail in Miller will highlight landmarks like the train depot that initially brought people to town and the Bethel-Lutheran Church.
“You can get off the train and be at the National Park in 20 minutes,” she said. “It’s interesting, fun and scenic and there’s a lot of history, like Octave Chanute doing his flight experiments and Nelson Algren writing his books. Diana of the Dunes used to come to Miller to check out books at the library and pick up provisions. Drusilla Carr saved thousands of acres in the Miller Woods and Marquette Park. We want to get some history signs between the South Shore Line station and the beach to add to the wayfinding signs.”
She’s also been in talks with the Chicago to Detroit Freedom Trail project to highlight a stop on the Underground Railroad in Miller.
“A lot of people are involved in a lot of different ways on this NWI Thrive project,” she said. “There’s a lot that converges here. It’s a sweet spot along the Marquette Greenway where so many destinations converge.”
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