Dan Helpingstine

Highland Dan Helpingstine

In 1912, the Hammond Times boasted of available 10-, 20-, and 40-acre tracts "located on the Ridge Road." That newspaper piece helped sell these tracts as part of a developing area that had an agriculture base but was also part of a region on the verge of joining the Industrial Revolution. The announcement's predictions rang true and, in a sense, told of the development of a town called Highland, Indiana. In the beginning, the town had its agricultural roots with it farms, open spaces, and prairies. As the steel mills along Lake Michigan grew into a major manufacturing hub and American society modernized, Highland evolved. The once developing turn-of-the-20th-century small town became a more urban and populated center. This book will show how Highland became one of the largest and most vibrant towns in Indiana.