La Porte, Indiana, June 11, 2007
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All Photographs Copyright © 2007-2012 by Robert E Pence
La Porte, Indiana has a population of 22,000 and is the seat of La Porte County. It was founded in 1832. Its name comes from the French word for theplace where a wide Indian trail opened from forest into prairie, "La Porte", or The Door.
La Porte's City Hall, built as a post office in 1912, was designed by James Knox Taylor, SupervisingArchitect for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
La Porte County's Romanesque courthouse sit in an attractive square in the center of the city's centralbusiness district. It was designed by Brentwood S. Tolan and built 1890-1894. Tolan designed several
Indiana courthouses, and is best known for the
Hospital
Fire Station 1 is now a Senior Activity Center
Public Library
The building used by Boston Middle School was formerly La Porte High School
The central business district is clean and attractive, with a fair representation of vintage commercial buildings.
The Maple City theme shows up in the sidewalks. Downtown has nice green spaces with sidewalk furniture that follows a coordinated design.
Sponsored planters add some color.
The Rumely name occupies a prominent place in the city's history. Meinrad Rumely came from Germany in 1848 and set up a blacksmith shop thatwas the origin of what came to be one of the world's leading manufacturers of farm machinery. The company was acquired by Allis Chalmers during
the great depression.
"The Eleventh Hour." I wonder what the history is behind this symbol on this building.
A shopping center stands on part of the former site of the Rumely works, and many of the structures and the smokestack have been razed. Some of thebuildings have been "modernized" with cladding and are occupied by small industries, and the power house that ran the factory stands pretty much in ruins.
