Jul 12, 2023
As by far the biggest of the Indiana Dunes on Lake Michigan, the legendary Hoosier Slide was a national tourist attraction. Sometimes likened to a sandy version of a Swiss Alp, the massive Hoosier Slide near Michigan City, Ind., stood 18.5 stories high and was the setting for wedding ceremonies, picnics and endless frolicking, with climbers and gawkers traveling by train or ferry to the towering dune during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
By 1920, though, the Hoosier Slide had disappeared.
Hoosier History Live will explore the heyday of the Hoosier Slide, the reasons it vanished from the landscape and the flourishing of Michigan City as a lakeside resort during the era that the huge dune captivated so many tourists. In particular, visitors from Chicago enjoyed spectacular views from atop the Hoosier Slide of Lake Michigan as well as Michigan City's vast lumberyards.
Nelson's studio guest will be Christopher Taelman, who lives in Granger, which is a few miles north of the University of Notre Dame, near Indiana's state line with Michigan. Chris serves as chief development officer of the Hospice Foundation based in Mishawaka.