Despite the park's proximity to steel mills and the cooling towers of the Michigan City power plant, the Dunes became a popular destination for urbanites from throughout the interstate region. In a summer 1989 survey of car license plates at the West Beach area of the Dunes National Lakeshore, the National Park Service determined that 59 percent of the visitors were from Chicago and its southern suburbs, 38 percent were from northwestern Indiana, and the remaining 3 percent were from other areas of Illinois, Indiana, and the nation. This study did not take into account those visitors who arrived at the lakeshore via the South Shore commuter rail line. By 1990, approximately 8.5 million people lived within a 90-minute drive of the Dunes National Park.

Photographer: Karen E. Spierling
Source: Karen E. Spierling