Filmed on Sunday, June 16 2024, I drive around Beverly Shores, IN to see what's going on.
Beverly Shores began life as a planned resort community. The Frederick H. Bartlett Company, at that time one of Chicago's largest real-estate developers, bought 3,600 acres in the area in 1927, and plotted thousands of homesites. He named the prospective development Lake Shore, North Shore Beach and South Shore Acres. The Great Depression dampened its prospects, and many of the plots were never built on.
Robert Bartlett, Frederick Bartlett's brother, purchased the properties in 1933. He named the entire development after his daughter Beverly, and continued to develop its infrastructure with roads, a school, a golf course, and a hotel. He purchased and relocated sixteen structures from Chicago's 1933-34 Century of Progress World's Fair, four of which were transported by barges on Lake Michigan.
The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was established in 1966. During the 1970s, there was a movement to purchase all the homes in Beverly Shores and incorporate the entire town into the National Lakeshore. This initiative did not succeed, but many local properties were acquired, especially those in the wetlands that constitute the southern portion.
A resurgence of development took place during the 1990s and 2000s, when many million-dollar-plus houses were built on the dunes near the lakefront.
Easily accessible from Chicago, Beverly Shores is a second home to many Chicagoans who are referred to locally as some-timers.
Beverly Shores attracts many visitors, particularly nature enthusiasts, cyclists and bird watchers, who come to enjoy the beaches and the marshlands.
#drivingtour #michiana #northwestindiana