Crown Point, Indiana is built around a classic town square—and a courthouse that keeps turning up in the town’s biggest stories. About an hour south of Chicago, this growing community of roughly 35,000 people uses its central square as a crossroads for history, business, and everyday life.
John McGivern traces Crown Point back to founder Solon Robinson, who arrived in 1834 and described the town’s “natural crown” of high ridge above the lowlands. From there, the episode steps inside the Old Lake County Jail and Sheriff’s House to unpack the local chapter of John Dillinger—how the building expanded over time, why the sheriff’s residence was attached, and what’s known (and debated) about Dillinger’s escape on March 3rd.
Back at the 1878 courthouse, Crown Point’s “Marriage Mill” era comes into focus: from 1915 to 1940, couples came for inexpensive licenses with no waiting period, including names like Rudolph Valentino and Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali). The courthouse’s next life includes weddings, events, and shops on the lower level.
Along the way: gem cutting and online sales, art inside a 1927 service station, the city’s oldest house (1846), “Ruffle Shirt Hill” and the 1892 Root Mansion, mead and cider, a landscape supply and garden center founded in 1948, the Crown Point Sports Complex with 10 softball diamonds, and an ice cream shop where corn is the top-selling flavor.
Old Sheriffs House Lake County Jail 3:08
Lake County Courthouse 5:46
Courthouse Shops 8:56
Moriarty’s Gem Art Jewelry @Moregems 9:51
Casa Balbina 12:16
Joe Morris Art Moto Gallery @jmotogallery453 12:47
The Wellington A. Clark House 15:01
Crown Point Fire & Rescue 15:47
Ruffle Shirt Hill 16:01
Manic Mead Wine Cider 18:42
Niemeyer’s Landscape Supply @niemeyerslandscapesupply8307 19:23
Crown Point Sports Complex 21:52
Azucar Ice Cream 22:26
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1 Comment
The jail overlooked my childhood home. The inmates would whistle at my mother when she was hanging laundry. We use to go shout “Hey, jail birds!” at the inmates from the gas station parking lot where cars involved in accidents were brought. Good times, good times.