Living In Munster Indiana 46321

• Beech Park – 8101 Beech Ave
• Bluebird Park – 1900 Holly Ln
• Briar Creek Park – 10299 Fox Run
• Burlwood Park – 10139 Burlwood Dr
• Circle Park – 1700 Inner Circle
• Cobblestones Park – 801 Treadway
• Frank Hammond Park – 1101 Fran-Lin Pkwy
• Grove Park – 8201 Tapper Ave
• John Friend Park at Westlakes
• Kiwanis Park – 213 Timrick Dr
• Orchard Park – 8807 White Oak Ave
• Stewart Park – 1600 Fran-Lin Pkwy
• Sunnyside Park – 7800 Hohman Ave
• Twin Creek Park – 9747 Twin Creek Blvd
• West Lakes Park – 9701 Margo Ln

• Community Park – 8601 Calumet
• Centennial Park – 901 N Centennial Dr
• Heritage Park Gazebo – 1154 Ridge Rd
• White Oak Park – 9700 White Oak Ave

“In 1833 Chicago was just a wilderness outpost”, as noted in the Smithsonian Magazine. For centuries before then, the frequently marshy area now known as Munster Indiana was home mainly to Potawatomi Indians.

The Native American tribes relied on the area’s many natural resources like the Little Calumet River for fishing, hunting and agriculture. They engaged in trade with early European settlers to supply the rest of their needs, traveling to the wilderness outpost now known as Chicago via the trails that would eventually become Ridge Road and Sauk Trail.

Trails, villages, trading posts ca. 1830. Image courtesy Ken Schoon.

However, as the American expansion moved westward, tensions over land ownership grew between the Native Americans and the settlers. The Treaty of Chicago in 1833 forced most of the Potawatomi to give up their land and relocate west of the Mississippi River.

Dutch and German farmers were the first settlers to the area in the early 1800s. The same fertile soil and the native trails and waterways made it possible to grow crops and sell them at the growing hub of Chicago.

More settlers were drawn to the Calumet region as farming, both crops and livestock and dairy, and selling or trading wares in Chicago, fed the local population and beyond. Businesses that catered to the needs of the Chicago-bound travelers cropped up too. Munster was growing.

Early European settlers like Jacob Munster, the town’s namesake, and the Bieker, Kaske, and Schoon families, played a crucial role in Munster’s early development. By establishing the first farms and opening a general store and Post Office, these founders made the 1800’s version of Munster a notable community.

As railroads came into the area in the mid 1800’s and beyond, the Calumet region farmers, business owners and their products were in place to capitalize on the major trade and transportation hub the City of Chicago had become.

Quality of life was important to the Munster founders, with the first schools and churches built as early as the mid 1800’s.

As the railway system grew into NW Indiana, Munster prospered. Incorporated as a town in 1907, most residents were farmers or in an agriculturally-related business. A few had traveler-related businesses with the first Munster business being a tavern and inn.

Brass Tavern and Inn in 1900

Around the turn of the century, Aaron Hart built a channel from the area to the Little Calumet River, draining the marshes and therefore making valuable and fertile farmlands. In 1927, Burns Ditch was built and immediately reduced Little Calumet River floodings. Munster was becoming even more inhabitable, according to The Encyclopedia of Chicago.

Over the years as major improvements like more railways, electric lines, telephones, and automobiles came into play, Munster began to grow in a different direction. It eventually developed into a small but well-organized town with rural roots and the beginnings of suburban expansion.