Historical Images of Porter County

East End of Bald Hill
Dune Park, Indiana

Date: June 10, 1908
Source Type: Postcard
Publisher, Printer, Photographer: The Crose Photo Company
Postmark: August 5, 1908, Dune Park, Indiana
Collection: Steven R. Shook
Remark: In this postcard photograph, a steam powered excavator is loading sand into a railcar. On the side of the railcar is painted "SAND." The man standing in the distance is likely to be Thomas Crose, the photographer. Crose was notable in that he used a delay timer, allowing him to appear in many of his own photographs. It is possible that he included himself in his photographs to thwart other postcard manufacturers from using his images, which was a common practice during the postcard heyday of 1907-1915. Most of Crose's postcards are exceptional in their composition.

Dune Park was a small station in Portage Township along the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad that took its name from the surrounding sand dunes. The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad shipped a significant amount of sand from Dune Park, mostly to the Chicago market. In 1889, for instance, the railroad was reportedly shipping more than 300 railcars of sand per day from their Dune Park station. A hotel and post office were located just south of the railroad tracks; the site also included a water tower to service trains. The hotel and post office were located adjacent to the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad line (later owned and operated by the New York Central Railroad), just south of the railroad tracks, at the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 31, Township 37 North, Range 6 West. The post office at Dune Park opened on April 24, 1907, and ceased operations on February 15, 1913, when mail service was transferred to Chesterton.

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Image and related text prepared by Steven R. Shook