Indiana Landmarks and the Indiana Dunes National Park are offering a “Logs to Lustrons Tour” on May 6, featuring 16 Northwest Indiana sites from rustic log structures to Lustron homes — the prefabricated enameled steel houses developed after World War 2.
The tour features several restored residences not usually open to the public, plus vacant landmarks in need of a new use. Seven interiors will be open for touring.
Tour stops this year include the restored 1950 two-bedroom Jacob Lustron home.
When the house’s location, in an endangered habitat in Indiana Dunes National Park, required its relocation, Steve and Laurie Snell completed its disassembling, move and rebuild. The couple lease the prefabricated house
through a special program overseen by Indiana Landmarks and the National Park Service.
Children who join the tour (with an adult) can earn a Junior Ranger badge by picking up a workbook, program, and a bag with a sketch book and pencil when they check-in.
At the end of the tour, the kids show the completed workbook to a park ranger at the check-in site to earn a badge. Children under-16 can attend the tour for free, but still need to reserve a ticket.
On May 5, staff from Indiana Landmarks and Indiana Dunes National Park will give a lecture on the park’s history and preservation, including a deeper look at the heritage of the Calumet Region.
Madeleine Tudor, co-curator of the Calumet Voices, National Stories exhibition at the Field Museum, will talk about the compelling mix of housing sizes and styles of the area that include architecturally renowned planned communities, single-family dwellings, public housing developments, and a farm that served as a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Park officials will also offer an update on planned rehabilitation work for the Good Fellow Club Youth Camp Lodge, a rustic Adirondack-style landmark built as a dining and recreation area for the camp that served children of U.S. Steel employees in the 1940s-70s.
Logs to Lustrons Tour
What: Tour featuring 16 sites, including several not typically open to the public
When: May 6 with tours leaving every 30 minutes beginning at 9:00 a.m. with the last tour departing at 1 p.m. The tour is about three hours.
Where: Shuttles depart from the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center, 1215 N. State Road 49, Porter. No parking is available at the tour sites. All guests must use the shuttles.
Cost: $30 per person ($25 for Indiana Landmarks members). Tickets available at logstolustronstour23.eventbrite.com or by calling 317-639-4534.
Logs to Lustrons Talk
A reception with light snacks, talk and Q&A session will be held May 5 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center, 1215 N. State Road 49 in Porter. The cost is $15 per person. Children 16-and-under are admitted free, but they must have a ticket. Tickets available at logstolustronstalk23.eventbrite.com or by calling 317-639-4534.
