In 1923, Samuel Reck of Gary, Indiana lead a group of investors to purchase 514 acres of duneland from the Francis A. Ogden estate. Mr. Ogden was a real estate speculator from Wisconsin, who died in 1914 with hundreds of property deeds worth more than $12 million dollars. Part of his property on the southern shores of Lake Michigan became Ogden Dunes, but much of the rest ultimately became part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Samuel Reck formed Ogden Dunes Inc and began developing a highly restricted lakefront suburb and retreat. Colin Mackenzie, a civil engineer and a partner in the enterprise, undertook to survey the land and to lay out streets and lots.
Samuel Reck built the first full-time residence at 4 Cedar Trail in 1923. The sales office for Ogden Dunes Realty was located on Hillcrest Road north of the present day firehouse. The sales office was used as the home for salesman, Harold Whelpley and his wife, Lucille. Lucille Whelpley ran the telephone exchange for the town from her home in the sales office for many years. The sales of lots in Ogden Dunes in 1923 and 1924 were slow, due in part to its inaccessibility. In order to gain easier access to Dunes Highway (now Route 12) under state statutes, the land needed to be formed as a corporate town. In 1925 the 24 residents living in Ogden Dunes voted in favor of gaining town status.
By 1925, the Route 12 federal highway was completed from Chicago to Detroit. The Southshore Railroad had a stop at Wickcliff Station, which became the Ogden Dunes station. A Town Hall, a Marshall’s Office, and a Town Garage were located on Hillcrest Road near the sales office.
The community grew slowly with only 144 full-time residents in 1940, along with an equal number of summer or weekend cottage owners.
With the end of World War II, Ogden Dunes grew as scores of young, middle-class families were drawn to the beach and the dunes. In 1948 after a fire burned Willard and Marjorie Dorman’s home at 94 Shore Drive, the Ogden Dunes Volunteer Fire Department was created. Ogden Dunes Realty made available the Town Garage to house the fire equipment.
In 1952 the Town Firehouse was expanded to include a community hall with a kitchen. The population had tripled by 1950 to 429 residents. In 1953 a Community Church held the first service in the Firehouse. Over 100 adults attended and 57 children enrolled in the Sunday school. The Community Church affiliated with the Gary church of the Presbyterian Church in the USA. Within 6 years the Ogden Dunes Community Church was built at 116 Hillcrest Road on land donated by the town.
In the 1960s, homes were built in the southern section of Ogden Dunes along Diana Road, Deer Trail, and Indian Camp Trail. With the growth of the U.S. Steel Midwest Plant in Portage, the population in Ogden Dunes grew to 1,440 residents by 1970. In the 1970s, the western subdivision with Valerie, Chrismar, Chestnut, and Sycamore was developed.
While the numbers of homes in Ogden Dunes has grown over time, the number of residents has decreased, due in part to children growing up and moving out of town. Ogden Dunes has the reputation of being a town where the President of Midwest Steel lives in a community with managers at the mill and steel workers. Many people who grew up in Ogden Dunes have moved back, some to live in their parents’ home, and many to raise their children in the community they grew up in and love. The population expanded during COVID, with many residents from Chicago moving into town. Today, the population in Ogden Dunes is 1,167 residents, and the number of homes is 636, and growing with many new homes being built.
