This, That and The Other La Porte County, Indiana

County Home	Orphans Home
Ruth Sabin Home Built 1889	Kingsbury Ordnance Plant (KOP) Contact Michigan City Library
Wolves Against The Moon Chapter XXVII	Home On The Range
Postal Services Come to La Porte City	Railroad comes to LaPorte County
La Porte County Storms of 1908	Indiana Territory Development - Link to Wikipedia
History of International Friendship Gardens  started by: the Stauffer brothers, Virgil, Joe, and Clarence See below.	Tolton - The Murder that never was posted on the GenWeb 12/16/2008
1902 Robbery of Westville Bank - Young Wesley Reynolds slain hero posted on the GenWeb 12/16/2008	Charles Pahrman Animal Shelter LaPorte County Humane Society beginnings
Stage Coach

International Friendship Gardens, Michigan City, Indiana -
This beautiful gardens representing all nationalities and religions in the name of peace is the treasure of Indiana. International Friendship Gardens was established in 1934 at the Century of Progress in Chicago dedicated to world peace, friendship and understanding. The three organizing horticulturists were brothers Clarence, Virgil and Joe Stauffer of Hammond,IN. Dr. and Mrs. Warren leased the wooded area adjacent to Trail Creek in Pottawattomi Park, a small community surrounded by Michigan City, Ind. Many governments sent support including China, Persia, France, Italy, Scotland, England and Greece. England sent a master landscaper to design English garden. The Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands sent 200,000 tulip bulbs. The largest display of tulips outside of that country. Gardens were planted in this 100 acre area, after the forest was cleared by hand and with horses pulling the wagons. In 1988 the last of the brothers, Clarence, died at the young age of 100 years, .having created his own Garden of Eden. The gardens provided entertainment through out the years. Regional art and musical festivals, flower demonstrations. the Island in a lagoon held world class performances, including operas such as Swan Lake with the swans swimming around the stage. The Lyric opera of Chicago gave summer programs for many years. Weddings have also taken place in the gardens over the decades. History, recounted by: Jean H.

Belle Gunness - La Porte's "Lady Bluebeard" - Great off site link - La Porte County Historical Society
   Men involved in investigation and trial concerning the Belle Gunness murders
Andrew Helgelein - Last Victim of Belle Gunness
Alse Helgelein - brother to Andrew - came looking for his brother.
Sheriff Albert Smutzer - sheriff at time of murder; Dr. William Meyer and Coroner Charles S. Mack
Judge John Charles Richter

Purdue North Central Brief History
Purdue at Barker Center   -  In 1948, Catherine Barker Hickox, daughter of a turn-of-the-century Michigan City industrialist, offered the family mansion as a home for the LaPorte County extension center and the course offerings were expanded. The center offered Purdue's complete freshman engineering program, as well as a two-year technical institute. For the next 18 years, students attended classes at the Barker Mansion on Washington Street. The mansion was used for classes until the fall of 1967 when a new and permanent campus was named Purdue University North Central, located on 155 acres of farmland a few miles north of Westville on Highway 421. A large Education Building was renamed Schwarz Hall in 1984 after Robert F. Schwarz, the first dean and director. More buildings and classes have since been added. To find out more about Purdue North Central Campus, visit them or view their website at http://www.pnc.edu/

Family Reunions

Hello All,
There is a rapidly growing Grass Roots effort to organize a National Reunion of the Descendants of John George Overmyer. Rochester, Fulton County has been selected as the location with a target date of July 2009. A specific date has not been determined as of this time. I would like to ask each coordinator to place a notice on their county site. We are looking to contact as many descendants as possible. There is also a website if anyone is interested in helping with the event or just wants to follow what’s going on. http://overmyerfami lyreunion. wetpaint. com I have added it to Marshall County and have attached a txt file already coded for the web if you would like to use it. Graphics are optional – as is the whole project.

This will be the first National Reunion for the Overmyer Families since 1905. A sunrise memorial service is planned to honor all those who have gone before us. A very talented team has assembled from across the country, to plan, coordinate and execute this truly historic event. I appreciate your time. Let me know if you are an Overmyer Descendent. --

Roberta Wunder
Marshall County GenWeb http://www.ingenweb .org/inmarshall/
It is common sense to take a method and try it.
If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.
But above all, try something.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
National Overmyer Family Reunion

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If you have some interesting histories about the county and its townships, please contact me, Deanna West at
laportecountyin@yahoo.com