Beverly Shores

History

Beverly Shores began life as a planned resort community. The Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend Railway began to provide service from South Bend to Chicago shortly after 1900. The Chicago businessman Samuel Insull reorganized the line as the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend (today's South Shore Line) in 1925, upgrading the stations and encouraging tourism. A number of promotional posters were issued, many of which remain in print. The Frederick H. Bartlett Company, at that time one of Chicago's largest real-estate developers, bought in the area in 1927, and plotted thousands of homesites. He named the prospective development Lake Shore, North Shore Beach and South Shore Acres. The Great Depression dampened its prospects, and many of the plots were never built on. Robert Bartlett, Frederick Bartlett's brother, purchased the properties in 1933. He named the entire development after his daughter Beverly, and continued to develop its infrastructure with roads, a school, a golf course, and a hotel. He purchased and relocated sixteen structures from Chicago's 1933-34 Century of Progress World's Fair, four of which were transported by barges on Lake Michigan. The community was incorporated in 1947. After World War II, a number of industrial developments, including Burns Harbor, were built to the west, and by the 1950s environmental organizations had begun to push for preservation of the area. The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was established in 1966. During the 1970s, there was a movement to purchase all the homes in Beverly Shores and incorporate the entire town into the National Lakeshore. This initiative did not succeed, but many local properties were acquired, especially those in the wetlands that constitute the southern portion. The acquisition process is ongoing.…

Geography

Located along the Lake Michigan shoreline and adjacent to the Indiana Dunes National Park, the town was initially developed as a planned resort community of second homes for Chicago residents. Six sites are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. These include a cluster of six buildings that were transported by barge from the Homes of Tomorrow Exhibition of the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair which took place in Chicago. This site is known as the Century of Progress Architectural District. Beverly Shores is located at , along the Lake Michigan shoreline. It is bordered by Indiana Dunes State Park on the west, Lake Michigan on the north, the village of Pines on the south, and Michigan City on the east. Much of the immediate area is part of Indiana Dunes National Park. According to the 2010 census, Beverly Shores has a total area of , of which (or 61.51%) is land and (or 38.49%) is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  13,758
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,285
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  13,069
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,035
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  11,754
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,685
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,335
• Ring-billed Gull

  Larus delawarensis Ord, 1815 · Aves
  10,444

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2026-07-08
  21 km ENE of Kenilworth, Illinois
• M 3.2 — 2013-11-04
  1 km SSW of Lyons, Illinois