Miller Beach Arts and Creative District

Located in the community of Miller Beach in Gary, Indiana, the Miller Beach Arts and Creative District is a demarcated area positioned on Lake Michigan's southern beaches and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Park. The district includes much of the historically significant downtown Miller area. Miller's downtown first developed in 1851 when a train stop, eventually called "Miller's Junction", was constructed by a predecessor of Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway. The first real settlement occurred as Swedish immigrants, many fleeing Chicago after The Great Fire, moved to the area in the early 1870's. They founded a church, eventually building a frame church in 1894 that still stands in the District.
The district also includes Miller's historic Town Hall building which was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Dept. of the Interior.
The most important experiments in aeronautics prior to the Wright brothers were conducted just a few blocks north of The Miller Beach Arts and Creative District. Octave Chanute, designer of the Chicago Stock Yards and the scientist who coined the word "Aviation" performed glider experiments at Miller Beach which developed the basic bi-plane design which was adopted by the Wright brothers.
The area now contained within the District was also frequented by several notable artists, authors, bohemians and eclectic figures. "Diana of the Dunes" one of the first female faculty members of the University of Chicago rebelled against what she saw as "the competitive, materialistic world of Chicago" fled to the dunes of Miller in 1915 and became a hermit. She often frequented the local library and shops within the district.
Notable authors Nelson Algren and Simone de Beauvoir both once lived and worked out of a cottage within the district. Algren wrote several novels including "the Man with the Golden Arm." Simone de Beuvoir, a French existentialist philosopher, public intellectual, and social theorist, wrote novels, essays, biographies, an autobiography in several volumes, and monographs on philosophy, politics, and social issues. She is now best known for her metaphysical novels, including "She Came to Stay" and "The Mandarins", and for her 1949 treatise The Second Sex. Simone developed her ideas for The Second Sex while she was living within the District. A detailed analysis of women's oppression, The Second Sex is considered the foundational tract of contemporary feminism.
The Miller Beach Arts and Creative District is intended to create a critical mass of places of cultural production and consumption - such as art galleries, dance studios, theaters, art cinemas, music venues, retail establishments, restaurants as well as public spaces for live performances, artistic expression and cultural exhibits in this historically signifigant setting. The District was established specifically to revitalize downtown Miller Beach into a cultural destination for the visual, performing and culinary arts and serve as a catalyst for community regeneration , sustainability and livability in Northwest Indiana. The district is slated to include several Live/Work spaces for artists and other individuals involved in various creative industries.
Other notable arts districts in the USA include:
*Arts District, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
*Arts District, Dallas, Texas
*Arts District, Portland, Maine
*Crossroads Arts District, Kansas City, Missouri
*Downtown Arts District, Las Vegas, Nevada
*Midtown, Atlanta, Georgia
*Noho Arts District, Los Angeles, California
*Ray Street Arts District in North Park, San Diego, California
*Pearl District, Portland, Oregon
*Short North, Columbus, Ohio
*Uptown, Oakland, California

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