Hartsdale was a town in St. John Township, Lake County,

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, United States. It was part of the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. ...

. Hartsdale was annexed by

Schererville, Indiana Schererville ( , ) is a town in St. John and Center townships, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,646 at the 2020 census It is a suburb of Chicago, located 30 miles south of the city. History Long before Indian ...

, in 1911.

History

Hartsdale took its name from the Hart Farm.T. H. Ball. Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900 or, A view of our region through the nineteenth century. Crown Point : Valparaiso tc. ; Chicago : Donohue & Henneberry, printers 1900. p278. http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/t-h-timothy-horton-ball/northwestern-indiana-from-1800-to-1900-or-a-view-of-our-region-through-the-nin-lla.shtml Aaron Hart was an early resident of the Schererville-Dyer area.Schoon, Kenneth. Calumet beginnings : ancient shorelines and settlements at the south end of Lake Michigan. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003. p182 He owned about 20,000 acres of land. Most of the land was useless marshland in the low areas between Lake Michigan's old Glenwood and Calumet Shorelines. Lake George was the name of the body of water on Hart's swamp land, and in 1880 Hart drained the marshy former lake bottom by constructing the Hart Ditch north to the Little Calumet River. He established the Village of Hartsdale one mile north of Schererville. Two rail lines, the Joliet Cutoff and the Pan Handle passed through Hartsdale. Hartsdale was location to the "Hartsdale" railroad yard and interchange where these rail lines crossed. In the late 1800s, the Hart farm employed forty employees who helped Hart grow grain, vegetables, raise dairy, beef cattle, and hay. The founder and land owner Aaron Hart died in a ditch digging accident on January 12, 1883. The town of Hartsdale never grew. By 1900 its neighbor Schererville had its church, two stores, a large brick school, and a population of about 250.

, including Hartsdale, was incorporated as a town in 1911, the same year as nearby St. John, Indiana. Today Route 41 passes right through the middle of the former Village of Hartsdale with a bridge above the Hartsdale rail yard and interchange. The railway interchange is still called "Hartsdale" by the railway operators to reflect the name of the town the interchange was in when named. Hart Farm Rd still exists on the west side of Route 41 about 1 block north of the Route 41 bridge in

Hartsdale Railway History

The Joliet Cut-Off railway (Part of

Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway The Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway was a Class II railroad, making a roughly circular path between Waukegan, Illinois and Gary, Indiana. The railroad served as a link between Class I railroads traveling to and from Chicago, although it operat ...

) was built to bypass the congestion and delay of transferring freight via Chicago. It was leased to the Michigan Central Railroad and service was implemented in July 1855. It allowed businessmen to ship their products from Joliet, Illinois, to the east, avoiding Chicago. The Pan Handle railroad (Chicago Great Eastern Ohio Railroad part of

Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, commonly called the Pan Handle Route (Panhandle Route in later days), was a railroad that was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system. Its common name came from its main line, whic ...

) formed part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system and was put into operation on March 6, 1865.

Hartsdale was located where these railroads intersect.

Geography

Hartsdale was located at (41.5078135, -87.4714281). Hartsdale was built on marshland after draining Lake George with a man made ditch called Hart's Ditch into the

Calumet River The Calumet River is a system of 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 former ...

. Lake George and the marshland were located in the low areas between Lake Michigan's old

Glenwood Shoreline The Glenwood Shoreline is an ancient shoreline of the precursor to Lake Michigan, Lake Chicago. It is named after the town of Glenwood, Illinois. The shoreline was formed when the lake was higher during the last ice age, while ice blocked the Stra ...

and

Calumet Shoreline The Calumet Shoreline is an ancient shoreline of Lake Michigan located in the Lake Michigan Basin. It can be clearly seen as a sand ridge along U.S. Route 6 Business (Gary, Indiana), Ridge Road south of Chicago. Closer to the lake from the Calumet ...

References

{{authority control Northwest Indiana Towns in Indiana Towns in Lake County, Indiana Populated places established in 1880 1880 establishments in Indiana