Indiana widow's 20-year land fight helped preserve Lake Michigan dunes
The article details the life of Drusilla Carr, an Indiana widow who spent over two decades in the early 1900s defending her land claim along Lake Michigan. Her efforts eventually contributed to the preservation of the area's unique sand dunes and natural landscape.
Why it matters
It provides historical context on land rights and the grassroots origins of environmental conservation efforts in the American Midwest.
In the early 1900s, an Indiana widow spent more than two decades fighting to defend her claim to 120 acres along Lake Michigan. Drusilla Carr had lived on the land for decades before it became valuable. As the city of Gary, Indiana, grew around her, the lakeshore that had once been seen as little more than sand and swamp became increasingly sought after for parks, homes and industry.Carr was born on July 29, 1856, in Porter County, Indiana. She and her brother became orphans during the 1860s. According to National Park Service, at the age of 13, she was recorded in the 1870 census as working as a domestic servant. The census also noted that she had never been taught to read or write.In 1872, she left that household and moved to the Lake County lakeshore near the mouth of the Grand Calumet River at Miller.
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