Local News

Famous Name to be Placed on Bridge in Michigan City

(La Porte County, IN) - He first found fame by inventing a toy still sold in stores a century later then as an architect in Long Beach.

 

John Lloyd Wright will have his name placed on a bridge in Michigan City.

 

La Porte County Commission President Joe Haney said his name in white letters on a blue sign will be attached to the bridge over Trail Creek on East Street near Blue Chip Casino sometime in the spring.

 

The bridge was chosen because it’s close to where Wright kept an office in downtown Michigan City.  He also lived in Long Beach.

 

The LaPorte County Commissioners recently accepted the nominations of six deceased individuals whose names will displayed on other bridges in La Porte County under a program established in 2020 to highlight people with great legacies who lived in LaPorte County.

 

“It’s a recognition of our history and those who have come before us,” said Commission President Joe Haney.

 

In 1920, Wright obtained a patent for his Lincoln Logs, which are still widely available on the retail market.  The ends of the three quarter inch long wooden pegs resembling timber interlock allowing users to make log cabins and other miniature buildings.

 

LaPorte County Historian Bruce Johnson said Wright was an architect in training when he came up with the idea for Lincoln Logs while working with his famous architect father, Frank Lloyd Wright, in Japan.

 

Johnson said interlocking log beams designed by his father were used in the construction of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo to make the building earthquake resistant.

 

He said John used the interlocking concept in his design of the toy logs named in honor of the nation’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln.

 

Lincoln was born in a one room log cabin in Kentucky and grew up in log cabins in southern Indiana and Illinois where his family migrated.

 

In 1999, Johnson said Lincoln Logs were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York.

 

“What was said to be one of the first toys promoted for both boys and girls became a huge success,” he said.

 

Originally from the Chicago area, Wright in 1923 moved to Long Beach where he was commissioned annually to design one or two buildings in the upscale lakefront community.  His residential and public buildings often contained several floors.

 

“They were built on the hillsides of the dunes or along the shores of Lake Michigan. His architecture reflected the natural beauty of the dunes with the colors of the sand, stone materials and wood shingles,” Johnson said.

 

In 1946, Johnson said Wright along with his third wife moved to southern California where he continued having success designing buildings in the San Diego area. He was 80 when he passed away in 1972.

 

Eventually, Haney said information about the people on the signs will be available on the LaPorte County government webpage.

 

Among the people already honored under the program include the late Charlie Finley, who owned the three time World Series winning Oakland A’s until he sold the major league baseball team in 1980. 

 

The sign containing Finley’s name is on the bridge above the Indiana Toll Road on Johnson Road near the farm where he used to live just outside LaPorte.

 

“There have been so many individuals from LaPorte County who have had an impact on the nation and the world itself.  So, it’s good to show and recognize that and kind of put a spotlight on that,” Hagey said.

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