1953 Map of Ogden Dunes

About this map

Ogden Dunes occupies a thin strip of the southern Indiana shoreline in the early 1950s, bounded by the vast expanse of Lake Michigan and the industrial-minded hydrology of Burns Ditch. The map illustrates the town's early residential footprint alongside the natural topography of the lakeshore before the massive industrial expansion of the mid-20th century. Local landmarks like the Flowing Well and a Sand Pit suggest the area's transition from a natural landscape to one shaped by resource extraction and lakeside settlement. The inland portion of the quadrangle, including parts of Portage and Westchester townships, shows the interface between the lake’s bathymetry and the rising elevation of the dunes, providing a detailed record of the shoreline's physical state just before significant modern development altered the region.