Michigan City, Indiana, has several notable landmarks along its Lakeshore, and most of them are industrial or institutional. There’s the cooling tower that everyone thinks is a nuclear power plant (it is not). There’s the NIPSCO generating station. There’s the State Prison, with a history going back to the Civil War. There was a lot more industrial heritage in Michigan City, but most of it has been swept away (for example, Pullman rail cars used to be made here). We’re about to lose something else, and I’m afraid that no one seems to be cut up about it, and that bothers me. I’m talking about the Coal Tower over the railroad tracks along Route 12.
It is not exactly what many would call beautiful. It’s a hulking mass of concrete sitting over some railroad tracks. It has been out of use longer than it was ever used. But it has been part of our built landscape since it was constructed about 100 years ago. It was purpose-built – and state-of-the-art technology – to drop coal into steam engines quickly and efficiently. But by the 1950s and 60s, steam was a thing of the past, and it wasn’t needed anymore. But because it was built of reinforced concrete, it wasn’t going anywhere, so it was easier to just leave it than do anything about it.
So, the structure has rotted in a way that concrete crumbles, bit by bit, but never in any real danger of falling. But in the time it became redundant, until today, it has become a landmark, and not just for locals. It’s no secret that this area is enjoyed by people who aren’t from here, especially those from Illinois who come to Indiana and Michigan to spend their summers along our lakeshore (this is primarily because Illinois doesn’t have the good beaches, while we do). The coal tower was a way marker. Since everyone had to pass by it, everyone knew where it was. If you were going up to, say, St Joseph or Holland, Michigan, from Chicago, then the tower would be your halfway point. If you were staying in Beachwalk in Michigan City, you could tell people to turn before the coal tower.
This hulking mass is now a part of the built landscape of this area. It’s been made beautiful by many artists who have painted it or photographed it in the right light. It’s been romanticized in a way that can only happen when something has just been around and is not going anywhere. We don’t really build things to last in this country, but this coal tower has survived a century, even while being completely useless for half a century.
And now, it’s being torn down.
It’s a simple math equation. The nature of the concrete structure meant the authorities that own the tracks (Amtrak), could ignore it. But the condition of the structure is getting worse, and with several passenger trains a day passing underneath it, Amtrak has a choice. They can either start maintaining the structure to arrest any further decay – a structure they don’t use or need at all, or they can tear it down and never have to worry about it again. They’ve chosen the latter. I don’t expect the people who run Amtrak in Washington, DC, to understand what a landmark the structure is. But I wish they did.
It’s coming down. Soon. This week, I saw the demolition crews surveying the scene to plan how they were going to take it down (and I’m very curious as to how they intend to do it – will they just blow it up?). It’s a major operation to remove the coal tower. They will have to close a critical cross-country rail line for five days to bring down the tower and clean up the mess it’ll cause. I suspect they’ll be working around the clock to make it happen. And then, in a few weeks, there will be no sign at all that it was ever there.
In the United Kingdom, a country I admire greatly, partly because they go to great lengths to protect heritage and the built landscape, if something was torn down and was considered a historically significant building, they would require whoever tore it down to rebuild it brick by brick. We don’t have laws like that here. Once something is gone, it is gone forever.
No one is ever going to build a coal drop tower over the railroad tracks again. There will be a lot of change coming to the Michigan City lakeshore in the coming years. The NIPSCO plant will be shutting down and demolished. The State Prison should be shutting down (though recent policy changes indicate that might not happen), and new buildings are being constructed with funding from Chicago developers. I hope that in the process of this new renaissance in Michigan City, we don’t completely sweep away the heritage and landscape that made this place unique.
Did you know that Lighthouse Place Mall used to have a restored building from the Pullman Factory? It was a gorgeous and smart reuse of an old building that respected the heritage of the place while coming into new use. Then one day, practically in the cover of night, the owners of the mall deemed it unprofitable and tore it down before anyone could object. There’s only a field of grass now where that beautiful old factory building stood. It’s been a field of grass for twenty years now. Once these things are gone, we never get them back.
Consider this your warning, Michigan City.