Local History

The Indiana Room and non-fiction collections contain many local histories, atlases, maps, city directories, memoirs, church records, military records, and more.

The Portable LaPorte County introduces the reader to the history of LaPorte County. It was written around 1978 as part of a larger LaPorte County History Project.

Get a unique look at Michigan City history by listening to and reading the remembrances of the past by Michigan City citizens collected in these oral history projects. Watch the library’s oral history series, Getting There: Oral Histories about Transportation in Michigan City (available through Indiana University digital archives), or read transcripts from the library’s 1977-78 oral history project History: Live from La Porte County.

Take a self-guided tour of Michigan City’s military & historic sites with this guide to their history and location.

Past issues of the Michigan City News Dispatch and earlier newspapers are available on microfilm at the library. Click here to learn more about our collection. Looking for an obituary? Try the library’s obituary index.

The library’s pamphlet files contain newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and other miscellanea related to the city’s history. The files can be read in the Indiana Room at the library.

Historical societies, Indiana Memory, Indiana State Digital Archives, Hoosier State Chronicles, Chronicling America, and more.

Additional local resources for information about the history of Michigan City.

The Michigan City News-Dispatch published Our Heritage in installments between June 29, 1976 and July 3, 1976. It is reproduced here with their permission.

The library holds a collection of over 6,000 slides containing historical photos of Michigan City.

A chronology of important dates in Michigan City history. Updated regularly.

Michigan City and LaPorte city directories are available for use within the library. Click here to see the editions held by the library.

Information on Sanborn maps, property records, local atlases, and more.

Yearbooks from Elston, Rogers, Marquette, Michigan City, and more schools can be used within the library. Click here to find a complete list of yearbooks held by the library.

“Celebrating Naomi Anderson” is a project of the Michigan City Mainstreet Association, in partnership with NAACP of La Porte County Unit 3601, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, and Unity Foundation of La Porte County. The project celebrates the life and achievements of Naomi Bowman Talbert Anderson, noted 19th century African American suffragist, civil rights activist and writer. Born in 1843 and raised in Michigan City, Anderson was celebrated throughout America as an early suffragist and civil rights activist, author and orator. She appeared frequently with women’s rights leaders such as Susan B. Anthony. She died in 1899.