City West was a village in

Porter County, Indiana Porter County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 173,215, making it the 10th most populous county in Indiana. The county seat is Valparaiso. The county is part of Northwest Indiana, as well as the Chicago ...

, USA, located on the shore of Lake Michigan approximately 10 miles west of Michigan City, Indiana. It was situated near the mouth of Fort Creek, now known as

Dunes Creek Dunes Creek is a northwards-flowing U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 15, 2011 stream which drains the Great Marsh of Indiana Dunes State Park and Indiana Dunes Nati ...

, which empties into Lake Michigan near the

Indiana Dunes State Park Indiana Dunes State Park is an Indiana State Park located in Porter County, Indiana, United States, east of Chicago. The park is bounded by Lake Michigan to the northwest and is surrounded by as well as within the authorized boundaries of Ind ...

swimming beach. It was located near the former site of Petit Fort. The town was established in 1836 by Jacob Bigelow, William Morse, Jacob Hobart and Leverett Bradley. By September or October 1839, the town had been completely abandoned, due to the financial panic of 1837, which caused the banks to demand repayment of loans, and the US Federal government not allocating promised money for a port on Lake Michigan near the mouth of Fort Creek. The village is notable for a visit from US Senator

Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison ...

on July 4, 1837. In a speech before the Whig members of City West, Webster wished the citizens good luck for the future for the "grand city on the lake", which led the overly excited Whigs of City West to think that they had appropriation for a grand port of Indiana. In 1840, there was a visit to the now abandoned village by a few people, including a 12-year-old T.H. Ball, who found only empty homes at the site of the village. The last word of the fate of City West was in 1854, when people nearby noticed the smell of burning wood and a glow in the sky in the direction of City West and Lake Michigan. Investigation later that month found the village to be in ruin from fire with only the wooden 650-foot pier jutting out into Lake Michigan surviving the destruction. The pier survived into the late 1870s before falling into disrepair and disappearing into the lake. As platted, the town covered 25 blocks, with rights of way for a railroad and a canal connecting the lake to the

Little Calumet River The Calumet River is a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region between the south side of Chicago, Illinois, and the city of Gary, Indiana. Historically, the Little Calumet River and the Grand Calumet River were one, the ...

; neither the railroad nor the canal were ever constructed. At its peak, the town was home to between sixteen and twenty households. There were no schools or formal churches. The town's businesses included a sawmill, which used water power from Fort Creek, and a large hotel. After standing vacant for several years, the hotel was moved to Chesterton in the early 1850s. Between the town and the lake stood a Potawatomi burial ground, and the town was frequently visited by Potawatomi trading parties on their way to

Baillytown Baillytown is a former community in northern Porter County, Indiana, near the present-day communities of Porter and Burns Harbor. Although the town platted as the Town of Bailly was never built, the Baillytown name was used for many years to ref ...

. Burials occurred at the Potawatomi cemetery as late as 1838. The old town site is now on Indiana Dunes State Park property with the only trace being a newly built park shelter named City West Shelter.

Works cited

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References

{{authority control Former populated places in Indiana Former populated places in Porter County, Indiana 1836 establishments in Indiana