New Chicago, IN

New Chicago is a town of less than a square mile in Hobart Township, set between Hobart and Lake Station in Lake County's road-and-industry belt. Deep River marks the town's southern edge, while I-80/94, Ridge Road, I-65, and Indiana 51 make the surrounding highways part of the local orientation. The town was platted in 1893 and had a post office from 1907 to 1917. Its Town Hall began life in the 1880s as a one-room schoolhouse, a detail that says a lot about how older institutions get reused in small places. Local students attend River Forest Community School Corporation, with River Forest High School serving as the district's comprehensive high school. New Chicago is compact, but its story has layers: an old stage and rail corridor, a schoolhouse at the center of town government, and modern transport routes pressing in from every side.