Union Pier Harbor Country Located by Beautiful Lake Michigan Warren Dunes State Park Pictured

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The Story of Union Pier

Union Pier was founded on an ethic of hard work without visions of a port to rival Chicago as was Wessel Whittaker's notion in New Buffalo.  There was nature's bounty to be harvested here.  Tree trunks measured five feet and more in diameter.  Trees rose 60 feet to the lowest branches.  Squirrels, we were assured, ran through the community without ever touching the ground.  There clearly was no Sears Tower to be seen on the horizon across the Lake, but everyone in what is now Union Pier understood that timber was the fuel which would fire the growth of Chicago.  Boards could be bucks.

And so, a group of men built a "Pier in Union" at the foot of Berrien St.  It was constructed as a 600 foot edifice jutting into Lake Michigan.  A 130-ton schooner was built on the adjacent beach.  Tracks were laid to Three Oaks and mule-driven cars brought in lumber from saw mills along the route.  Soon there were brick and tool handle factories sending their wares to Chicago and beyond.  The Chicago Fire of 1871 only increased the demand for Union Pier's natural bounty.  But, Chicago was rebuilt, Union Pier's pier washed away and a new economy had to be established.

In the 1900s tourism replaced timber, bricks and fishing as Union Pier's major industry.  Union Pier became the United Nations of tourism.  Eastern Europeans, African Americans and Jewish vacationers all established homes and resorts in the community.  Olympian Jesse Owens had a home here.  Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, ultimately the victim of an Assassin's bullet, brought guests to his summer home by yacht.  John Dillinger even stopped for gas at the Prusa Resort service station which is now the Wine Sellers at Miller's Country House.

But, still, it's the lake and its sunsets that attract us all.  Even the early lumber men would agree - there is still a bounty of nature to offer Chicago.

Historical information courtesy of the Harbor Country Chamber of Commerce.

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