To get to the Conrad Station nature preserve, find Newton County Road 725, which is a gravel road going east from U.S. 41. Follow it about half a mile until the road turns south. At the bend in the road is a tiny parking area big enough for two cars. Next to the parking lot is the sign shown above.
The Conrad Trail is a loop trail. If you want the short way to the ruins of Conrad, take the western trail that heads into the woods, not the eastern part that shirts the woods. The trail is marked but is sometimes hard to follow, and it is sometimes cut by old roads that are easier to follow than the trail. If you successfully follow the trail for about half a mile, you will find a foundation with a interpretive sign next to it.
The interpretive sign tells the story of Jennie Conrad and the town she founded in 1908. Much of what is on the sign seems to be information very similar to what you can read here. The town never was very big, but did eventually contain a train depot, hotel, post office and general store, church, cement block factory, blacksmith shop, stockyards, and some houses. The plat map shown below can be seen better here if you click to magnify the right map.
I did not read the selection shown above when I was there, or else I would have realized that half the town was west of the railroad tracks. Highway 41 lies on the western edge of the town.
My guess is that the building next to the historical information sign was the depot, but it is only a guess.
The railroad tracks are still there, but no longer used and are not currently usable because the roads that cross them completely cover the tracks.
This railroad was originally the Chicago, Indiana & Southern Railroad, which had a short life. It then became part of the New York Central. I do not know what happened after that, but the New York Central is long gone, having merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad to become the Penn Central. From what I can find on the Internet, it appears that all the tracks in Newton County, from south of Kentland to north of Lake Village, are abandoned. Does anyone know why the tracks have not been pulled up for scrap? The right-away would make a wonderful hiking/biking trail.
There may be more ruins west of the tracks. There are some occupied buildings next to the highway that are part of a go-kart track.
It would be nice if the Nature Conservancy folks would mark out the existing ruins, but since their main interest is preservation of plants and animals, not the preservation of human structures, we should probably be thankful that they have done as much as they have done.
Returning to the parking lot, I noticed a couple of ruins east of the information sign. Below you can see a few cement blocks that might have been part of an old foundation.
Much more impressive were these stairs. Again a guess, but they may have been part of the hotel.
There were parts of the foundation visible for this building, and there were some bricks that had a white enamel-like surface lying about.
The location of Conrad was poor--it was two miles south of an existing town. Perhaps the lesson is that things constructed by eccentric and disagreeable women for personal reasons should not be expected to last.
If you want a nature walk or a historical walk, give the Conrad Trail at Conrad Station a try some day. You can also stop by Conrad Bridge, built in the early years of Conrad and about half a mile away,
14 comments:
I love this story. We are losing so many old structures, outbuildings, barns, and homes. They need to be recorded. Thank you for making a record of the leftovers.
Great article on Conrad. I used to hunt the area in and around the remains of Conrad in the mid to late 1970's. The railroad tracks were in use then, and continued to be used at least into the early 1980's.
can we metal detect there?
I grew up in Lake Village and remember poking around in the woods exploring the ruins of Conrad. That was in the 1970's. What happened to the town that there were already trees growing through the foundations only 50 years later?? There are buildings in Lake Village that were built around the same time and are still standing and inhabited.
By the way, someone posted a photo of the stone Conrad Station on Facebook. That photo must be rare!
I have played on many of those old building remains and the railroad tracks as a little kid growing up in Lake Village. Interesting stuff as an adult as a kid I had no clue what they were.
If any of you's have a facebook account, search for Lake Village Indiana OLD PHOTOS PAGE and click on photos, look thru the pics of conrad in the Conrad Indiana folder. Some very cool pics of Conrad in its prime!
I visited this location 3-29-13. I was able to find five very clear foundations. They all appear to be close to major structures that appear on the old plat map for Conrad. Two of these would correspond to the Church (the tallest foundation with at least a partial basement) west of the tracks, and the Post Office directly east of the Church and still west of the tracks. The other three are east of the tracks. They are all a little farther to the north, which would seem to place these near Hugh St. that the Church and Post Office are on. There is a structure just east of and very near the tracks which I would guess to be the Depot. The next structure to the east is the one with the historical marker. Again, based on the plat map, this would seem to be the Hotel (assuming the structure nearer the tracks is the Depot). The fifth structure is yet further east. This is where the stair steps sit near the hiking trail. One article I read seemed to indicate that the steps might be from the former school (although it is shown much further north on the map).
I just found this bit of information about the location of the school from the Kankakee Valley Historical Society web page, written by Dick Schmal in 1990. "The first school, which originally stood on the Graves farm east of Conrad, was moved to the north part of town and used until a brick school was erected east of the hotel in 1927." I think this confirms the location of the hotel and that the steps along the path are of the school (the one built in 1927).
My uncle Biddy warned us about the ghost train that went through Conrad. Killed several people it was said. This was in the forties, I was about seven or eight. Dad and his brother used to take us ghost hunting a lot.
Hello, my wife and I puzzled out a few of the buildings with a map of Conrad today. The building you thought was the depot is really the hotel. The depot is due west of the hotel, about 75 feet from the train tracks. It is marked with a sign. We also found the Mission of Conrad Church. What a neat place it is.
Thanks so much for posting this, Bob! We came out to see the bison and saw that Mary Kay Emmrich is giving a ghost tour this week on Conrad. I looked up Conrad and came to your post. It was SO helpful! You don’t know how many people appreciate what you do in reporting so many things on this blog. THANK you!
My daughter was traveling East on 114 (Momence, Illinois) and 10 (Lake Village, Indiana). It was night time. She was coming home from work. She does not do drugs or drink alcohol. She is 18. She told me as she approached the State Line, she saw blood everywhere on the road. She said the area was covered in blood. There were no accidents or anything reported. It inky happened to her once. She was terrified and couldn't sleep. Have you heard of anything like this ever? Just wondering. The only thing I can think of is paranormal activity.
Just hiked here today. Love this area. Such a pretty little area to hike in and cool history to look at . I did get a tiny bit of feeling as though someone was watching in the woods and my dog kept staring at something, but other then that I will for sure hike here again
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