The Barker Mansion

After I graduated college, I worked at a house museum in Michigan City, Indiana. This house museum was nothing like I had ever seen before. The mansion had a story to tell and I had the opportunity of uncovering it with interns and other staff members. The house was built by industrialist John Barker in 1857. As an entrepreneur, Barker sought several new industries, but the one that became the most successful was the car company. 

The company Haskell & Barker really took off making freight cars that carried supplies during the Civil War. The company was left to his son, John H. Barker,who really expanded and invest in what his father started. Barker envisioned his home town to reach the economic prosperity of Chicago.  Employing most of the cities new Polish and German immigrants, the factory was a key part in putting Michigan City on the map.

 

 As the company becomes more successful, Barker builds a 17-room addition to his father's house which was completed in 1905. Designed by Fredrick Perkins, the mansion including the addition now encompassed 38 rooms, 10 bathrooms, 7 fire places, Italian style gardens, state of the art in house vacuum system, and intercoms. 

John Barker died in 1910, his only daughter was 14 at the time. The car company was purchased by Pullman Standard in the 1920's and later burned during 1973.

Today the staff tell the mansion's many stories and how they relate to the car factory through specialty tours, scout sleep overs, and lectures. If you are in the neighborhood an are curious about the factory or perhaps about what the Barkers' home life was like, take a tour and explore the rich history found in Michigan City.

Sources:

http://www.barkermansion.com/mansion/history

http://www.indianaeconomicdigest.net/main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=62&ArticleID=32934 

Emily Reth