09/29/2026
Cedar Lake History Drop!
I know, I know, it’s Monday and we could have done a Monon Monday today but I am a little behind on Cedar Lake so this week we will be finishing that up with some archive photos and then I will be posting some odds, ends and addendums that we found on a recent visit to the MRHTS archives.
Yesterday with the present day pictures I shared some history of the Cedar Lake area. There is a lot to learn, so much more than I can learn in one week. Even with the little I know about it there is so much more than I can do in one post. So today I am sharing more history but this will focus on the Monon and its efforts to serve Cedar Lake and visitors to the area.
When the Monon finally established its line to Chicago, it first came to Cedar Lake in 1882. If you look at a map of the lake there is a distinct point that sticks out on the west shore. The depot was built on the shore, just south of this bump-out with the line running north-south, along the west shore of the lake. The south west side of the lake however had a bog called the Paisley Bog. This soft ground was not ideal for building a railroad. The first line the Monon built swung out west to avoid this area and then came back in to the depot on the shore. It then traveled along the shore up the lake and swung out a little west to continue on up north.
In the late 1890s under McDoel’s management, the Monon decided to straighten the line north of Lowell for efficiency. After trying, and failing, to build a solid fill along the bog (because it was seemingly bottomless) they instead built a 963 foot long floating trestle across it, called the Paisley Trestle. At this time they also straightened the line a little bit north of the depot as well.
The Paisley Trestle was a big improvement and helped the Monon make better time but it wasn’t perfect, mostly because it was built over a bog and if a train derailed there it would be irrecoverable. When Barriger came along he decided the trestle over the bog was too dangerous, so he called for a decrease in speed to 20 mph on the trestle. Another issue with Cedar Lake was the large numbers of bathers traversing the tracks to get to the shore. The
Monon had previously constructed a walkway over the tracks for this reason.
Regardless, the best way to avoid both of these issues was to move the line away from the shore of the lake, so that is what Barriger did.
Quoting Hilton in his book MONON ROUTE:
“In 1948 the Monon undertook a bypass called the Cedar Lake cutoff of about four miles circumventing both the lake and the bog on higher ground to the west. The project entailed an investment of about $500,000. The southbound ‘Tippecanoe’ inaugurated the new line on November 30, 1948.”
Over the years, the main export from Cedar Lake was ice and the main import was tourists. The Monon hauled thousands of tons of ice to Chicago, and to southern Indiana, Louisville, and beyond. The tourists stopped coming in droves when automobiles became popular, and around that time is when the little cottages around Cedar Lake started being converted to year-round residences.
Though the line was moved out to the west of the lake, passenger trains would have continued to serve the area up until 1967.
In the pictures below you will find photos from our archives, a few articles about Cedar Lake, and a 1915 map that will show you the three alignments for Cedar Lake, the final alignment is marked in red. There’s also several google earth maps for present day reference.
