Valparaiso High School

The Valparaiso Community Schools (VCS) is the school system that serves Center Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States. Center Township is predominantly the city of Valparaiso.

Center Township is one of twelve townships in Porter County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 43,267.

The Valparaiso Moraine is a recessional moraine (a land form left by receding glaciers) that forms an immense U around the southern Lake Michigan basin in North America. It is a band of hilly terrain composed of glacial till and sand. The Valparaiso Moraine defines part of the continental divide known as the Saint Lawrence River Divide, bounding the Great Lakes Basin. It begins near the border of Wisconsin and Illinois and extends south through Lake, McHenry, Cook, DuPage and Will counties in Illinois, and then turns southeast, going through northwestern Indiana. From this point, the moraine curves northeast through Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties of Indiana into Michigan. It continues into Michigan as far as Montcalm County.The moraine was formed during the Crown Point Phase of the Wisconsin glaciation. At this time the glacier covering the area had grown thin, so it was restrained by dolomite rock layers in the Lake Michigan basin. Where the glacier stopped, glacial till and sand was deposited, creating the hills of the moraine. After the Valparaiso Moraine was formed, the glacier retreated and formed the Tinley Moraine. Many towns in northwest Indiana and northeast Illinois are named after the Valparaiso Moraine or the Tinley Moraine. The moraine itself was named after the city of Valparaiso, Indiana where the moraine is at its highest and the city lies on the moraine. As part of the continental divide, many creeks or rivulets have their origin source in the Valparaiso Moraine. Water on one side of the moraine flows into Lake Michigan, through the Great Lakes, and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River, while water run-off on the other side of the moraine flows into tributaries of the Mississippi River, which eventually flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The moraine divide was breached at the Chicago Portage gap by a canal beginning in the mid-19th century.

Charles S. and Mary McGill House is a historic home located at Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana. It was built in 1926, and is a two-story, Z-shaped Tudor Revival style brick dwelling. It has a steeply pitched cross-hipped roof and features stuccoed areas with half-timbering and massive chimneys.: 2 It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

The congregation of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Valparaiso, Indiana, was founded in 1862 by 69 German families. The church building was erected in 1891 by Henry Lemster and his son, Charles. A fire gutted the building in 1975, marks of which can still be seen on the altar and pews. The Immanuel Lutheran congregation moved to a new site on Glendale Boulevard, while 60 members formed a new congregation named Heritage Lutheran Church and restored the historic building.An undated old photo shows a taller steeple and a two-story parsonage adjacent to the parish hall, which is no longer extant. A photo from the courthouse tower northward, c. 1900, shows the taller steeple on the church.The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Valparaiso Collegiate Institute was an institution of secondary education in Valparaiso, Indiana. It was opened in 1861 by the Presbyterians in the community after the Methodists on September 21, 1859, had opened the Valparaiso Male and Female College, the forerunner to Valparaiso University of the Lutheran University Association.The Collegiate Institute was located on the lot where the city's Central Elementary School now stands. The Institute was a two-story building with four large rooms. When a system of public schools was organized in 1871, the trustees purchased the Institute and used the building as a public school. The original building was expanded by adding a third story, and also by building an exact replica just to the north and connecting the two structures, producing a sixteen large rooms and a chapel. The structure was torn down in 1903.

The DeForest Skinner House or Skinner Homestead, is a place on the National Register of Historic Places in Valparaiso, Indiana. It was placed on the Register on June 24, 2008. Built around 1860, it is a two-story carpentered Italianate structure with a double brick foundation, weatherboard walls, and asphalt roof, located three blocks north of the Porter County Courthouse. The register listing includes a carriage stepping stone by the north porch, with the family name upon it.: 5 DeForest Skinner acquired the recently built house around the time he married Rachel Ann Maxwell in 1861. Skinner had arrived in Valparaiso in 1847 at age eleven with his parents John and Emily Skinner; he displayed business acumen early in life as he worked for various commercial interests. From 1874 to 1878, as a member of the Republican Party, he served as a member of the Indiana Senate. Then in 1880 and 1888 he represented his area at the Democratic National Conventions. He also served as the President of the First National Bank from 1887 until his death in 1902. He was also Indiana's representative at the World's Congress of Bankers in 1893. Furthermore, he was on the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railroad's board of directors. His death in 1902 occurred in the house.: 13 Upon Skinner's death, the house was under control of his son Leslie Reid Skinner, born in 1873. Leslie became the railroad's director after his father's death, making him the youngest railroad director in the United States.: 14  Leslie and his wife sold the house in 1919 to Louis Szold, who lived in the house until 1946. Szold started renting out the house in 1930, and subsequent owners continued to use the house as apartments until December 2005, when current owners Kirk and Caroline Conner began renovating the house.: 11, 14 

The Haste-Crumpacker House, in Valparaiso, Indiana, was built in 1887.According to the National Park Service: The Haste-Crumpacker House is a locally outstanding example of Late Victorian Eclectic architecture. The style and methods of construction reflect an era of prosperity for the city of Valparaiso as well as the advancement in construction technologies. Built for George Haste in 1887, the elegant home was described in local newspapers of the time as an “elegant residence” and a “substantial improvement to Valparaiso,” reflecting the social importance and economic prosperity that much of Indiana experienced in the decades following the Civil War. It's one of 17 individual properties nominated for the National Register by Partners in Preservation.The building was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on June 24, 2010. The listing was announced as the featured listing in the National Park Service's weekly list of July 2, 2010.

The Loring Residence and Clinic was the first facility built to provide medical services to Valparaiso, Indiana. The residence has continued to provide for public service through its current use by the Valparaiso Woman's Club. Dr. Loring used his home as his medical office until his death in 1914. It was Loring's initial efforts that brought medical care to the county and provided for the first hospital. Although private, it became the county's first public hospital when Loring sold the building in 1906 to build his home and clinic. Loring was a physician and surgeon. He was vice president of the Indiana State Medical Association and founder of the Porter County Medical Society.

Valparaiso station was a train station in Valparaiso, Indiana. Initially served by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it was the outbound terminus of the Amtrak Calumet until that service's discontinuance in 1991.Amtrak began service here on April 25, 1976, as a stop of the Capitol Limited. A fire destroyed the original station building and a small shelter replaced it.

Valparaiso has retained an active downtown. It remains a mix of government, retail and business center, with a mixed residential and service area (retail and restaurants). Numerous economic changes have not changed the basic character, historic courthouse area. The historic district retains the distinctive turn-of-the-19th-century architecture, supporting numerous small specialty shops, shaded sidewalks, and a people friendly environment. The Downtown District, is anchored on the Porter County Courthouse. It includes 14-blocks surrounding the square, bounded on the north by Jefferson Street, on the east by Morgan Street, on the south by Monroe Street, and on the west by Napoleon Street.

Porter County Courthouse is in Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana. The current building replaced the brick building in 1883. The current building is 128 feet by 98 feet. It was built with a square tower rising out of the center. The tower was 168 feet tall with a clock on each side. Built of Indiana limestone from Ellettsville, it cost $125,909. During construction there were several problems with the building stone. It was eventually finished at an additional $10,000 cost.