Chesterton Commercial Historic District

Chesterton is a disused train station in Chesterton, Indiana. The current depot replaced a wooden structure built in 1852 for the Northern Indiana and Chicago Railroad, a predecessor road of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, that burned down in 1913. It was rebuilt in 1914 as a brick structure. By 1914, Cornelius Vanderbilt of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad held a majority interest in the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway. The Southern Railways trackage provided an ideal extension of the New York Central from Buffalo to Chicago. On December 22, 1914, the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad merged with the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway to form a new New York Central Railroad.The New York Central Railroad, built the new Chesterton Depot out of brick and to the west, across Fourth Street, they built a freight house that same year.In 1968, the New York Central merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1976, the Penn Central's freight service was consolidated into Conrail and it ended passenger service altogether. Passenger service to Chesterton ended in 1959. The rail lines are currently operated by Norfolk Southern.

Located in Chesterton, Indiana, the Chesterton Residential Historic District is located a block south of the business district, along Second Street from Indiana Ave. to Lincoln Ave. and on Indiana Ave. from Second to Third Streets. The area began with the Martin Young House construction about 1870. The Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana describes as one of the best Italianate structures remaining in northwest Indiana. Most of the structures date from the early twentieth century. St. Patrick's Catholic Church, built in 1876, and burned ca. 2000.The historic district was established in December 2009.

Martin Young shows up in the abstracts of several significant real estate transactions that provided for the growth of the town of Chesterton. He does not appear to have had a major role in the development on the town, except it apparently provided him with the means to build the Italianate home on Second Street. Young's prominence in the community began with the death of Cornelia Woods. She owned numerous acres on the south and southeast sides of downtown Chesterton since 1872. When she died in 1891, her five children from two marriages could not agree of the dispensation of the estate. In October, 1891 they reached a settlement and allowed Commissioner George Morgan to sell the property to Martin Young for $5,400. Young bought two parcels, one of 42.52 acres (17.21 ha) and the other of 14 acres (5.7 ha). “except one acre conveyed by grantors April 30, 1894 to the Chesterton Paint Manufacturing company”, this was the complete estate of Cornelia Woods. In 1907, the Chesterton Realty Company purchased the area east of Coffee Creek and platted the Morgan Park development. Martin Young received $8,220 for his land.This "mansion" was built by Thomas Miles (1827 VA - 1893 Chesterton, IN) in 1878. (4/18/1878 Vidette Messenger) He was in Chesterton in 1880 with his wife Ellen (Morrical) Miles and six children. In 1889, Ellen left for Findlay, Ohio with the children. (12/13/1889 Chesterton Tribune) Martin Young bought the house in 1888 after Thomas Miles "met with a series of business reverses that rendered him bankrupt". Thomas Miles died July 1, 1893, and is buried in Chesterton cemetery with no gravestone. The obituary said he died "penniless." (7/7/1893 Chesterton) Today the house is known as the "Martin Young" house.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

The Norris and Harriet Coambs Lustron House, also known as the Coambs-Morrow House, is a historic Lustron house located in Chesterton, Indiana. It was built in 1950, this was one of the last manufactured Lustron homes (#2329) of the 2500 sold and produced by the Lustron Corporation. The house has a Lustron two-car detached garage and is located in a pre-World War II subdivision with some homes dating before World War I. The house is a one-story ranch style with no basement. It contains three bedrooms (unlike the majority erected, which have two bedrooms) with living room, dining area, kitchen, utility and bathroom totaling 1,200 square feet (110 m2) of living space.

Chesterton is a town in Westchester, Jackson and Liberty townships in Porter County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 14,241 at the 2020 Census. The three towns of Chesterton, Burns Harbor, and Porter are known as the Duneland area.

Coffee Creek is a stream in Porter County, Indiana, in the United States. It is a tributary of East Arm Little Calumet River. According to tradition, a bag of coffee was lost in the stream, accounting for the name.

The George Brown Mansion is an example of the Queen Anne's Style of architecture. It was a dominant style during the 1880s and 1890s, the time when Chesterton was a growing city in northern Indiana. George Brown arrived in the United States in 1852. In 1855, he married Charity Carter, daughter of a local family. He became a successful farmer in the township. The farm was located on what is 950 North, west of 400 East. By the year 1882 he was operating a farm of 900 acres (360 ha). He had expanded into supplying cordwood to the Porter brickyards after 1870. George and Charity had ten children. In 1884 George Brown bought 120 acres (0.49 km2) in the town of Chesterton from the John Thomas family. His plans called for a retirement home on this site. He engaged Chicago architect Cicero Hine to design the house. In 1891 the family sold all but 10 acres (40,000 m2). It was the same year, that he built a brick store downtown at Calumet and Broadway. During the 1902 fire, it was the only store to survive. Charity Brown died in 1895 at 56. George died in 1899 at the age of 71. After a probate fight, his son John Franklin (Frank) moved into the house with his family.In 2010, the Westchester Historical Society uses the Brown Mansion as the Westchester Township History Museum and Society offices.

Porter Town Hall is a historic town hall located at Porter, Porter County, Indiana. It was built in 1913, and is a two-story, square Bungalow / American Craftsman style red brick building. An addition was built in 1964. It features decorative brick pattern work, exposed rafter ends, eyebrow windows, and a belfry surrounded by a decorative wrought iron railing.: 5 It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

WBEW (89.5 FM) is a non-commercial educational (NCE), Class B1 public radio station at Chesterton in Northwest Indiana. Since June 2007, the station has been branded Vocalo, initially airing listener submitted content and later airing an urban format. It is owned by Chicago Public Media and is a sister station to WBEZ in Chicago. WBEW broadcasts in the HD Radio format.

Westchester Township is one of twelve townships in Porter County, Indiana. It is included in the Calumet, Northwest Indiana, and Great Lakes regions. It is located on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Chicago. It stretches from the famous Indiana Dunes on its northern border, south to the Valparaiso Moraine, a ridge of rolling hills left by the last glacier to pass through the area. As of the 2010 census, its population was 19,396.

Chesterton High School is a public high school serving grades 9-12 located in Chesterton, Indiana. It is the only high school in the Duneland School Corporation.

Enchanted Forest was a small amusement park operated in Porter, Indiana. The park operated from 1957 to 1991. Many rides were moved to Little Amerricka amusement park in Wisconsin after the park closed on August 2, 1991. The park became Splash Down Dunes Water Park in 1994. Splash Down Dunes itself closed down in 2009 after an ownership dispute; the original owner regained ownership in 2010 but the park remained closed. Splash Down Dunes was bought by Seven Peaks Water Park and it re-opened on May 27, 2013, as Seven Peaks Water Park Duneland.The location of the amusement park is at the intersection of U.S. Route 20 and Indiana State Road 49, north of Chesterton near the border of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. In June 2017, the park was closed by state officials due to dozens of people receiving chlorine chemical burns. Malfunctioning equipment was determined to be the root cause. At the time, Jo Penney, a spokeswoman for Seven Peaks, said, "the park will remain closed until all the deficiencies are rectified." In 2019 the water park was sold. The new owner has plans to demolish the water park, and build an apartment complex.