Whiting Celebrates America’s Bicentennial

John Hmurovic
December 2025

The tall ships have sailed away, the fire hydrants have been painted over, and no one knows what you’re talking about if you mention Bicentennial Minutes. But in Whiting-Robertsdale, we have at least two survivors from the Bicentennial celebration of 1976: the name “Nathan Hale Elementary School,” and the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society.  

By way of background, 1976 was 200 years after thirteen American colonies got together and signed the Declaration of Independence. The Bicentennial is what we called our celebration of that event.

Not all the celebrations were serious. Someone, somewhere in the U.S., came up with the idea to paint fire hydrants in patriotic colors, like red, white, and blue, or as short, stubby, little soldiers. The idea quickly caught on nationwide, leading to many creatively painted hydrants across various cities, including Whiting-Robertsdale.       

Another Bicentennial event enjoyed across the country was Operation Sail, better known as the “tall ships.” Millions watched live on television, and six million gathered along New York Harbor to see the spectacle in person. Over 200 sailing ships, with their giant sails blowing in the wind, paraded into the harbor on July 4, 1976, along with over fifty naval warships. Ships from thirty nations were a part of the parade into New York City, joining America’s celebration.

In Indiana, a Revolution Bicentennial Commission was established. It worked with communities across the state, encouraging them to develop projects. It distributed state and federal grants to help. The Commission’s goal was to have cities develop tours, exhibits, and events to celebrate the history of the nation and the state. It also encouraged local communities to develop projects that would have a lasting impact. Each city was free to come up with its own plans. 

The City of Whiting got off to a slow start. “Whiting is six months to a year behind,” said George Choltye Jr., who was appointed by Mayor Joseph Grenchick to chair the city’s Bicentennial Committee. It did not have its first meeting until January 1976.

To make up for lost time, Whiting’s committee labeled some already scheduled events as “Bicentennial events,” including the annual Fourth of July parade. The congregation at St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church was celebrating its 75th anniversary in 1976. The final event in the congregation’s celebration was the dedication of its bell tower. The dedication ceremony was also added to the list of Whiting’s Bicentennial activities. Likewise, a new fishing pier was installed on the Lake Michigan shoreline at Whiting Park that year. It was painted red, white, and blue, and its dedication was declared a Bicentennial event.  

Whiting also joined cities from across the country in a 21-day salute to the flag. It was spearheaded by the Whiting Elks Club and started on June 13 with a ceremony at City Hall. For the next 21 days everyone, nationwide and in Whiting-Robertsdale, was asked to fly a flag from their homes, offices, and businesses.

There were also projects developed by other groups, such as “Peek at the Past,” organized by the seven public library systems in Lake County, in cooperation with Hammond radio station WJOB. It copied the idea of Bicentennial Minutes. From 1974 through 1976, CBS ran a nightly one-minute segment on its television, each one telling a story about what happened two hundred years ago on that date. They were called Bicentennial Minutes.  

Peek at the Past took that idea and applied it to local history. Each library system researched and wrote one minute radio spots and recruited a variety of local residents to read and record them. The topic of each Peek at the Past was a story about something from the city’s past. They were then aired on WJOB.

Charlotte Haynes, the assistant director of the Whiting Public Library, oversaw Whiting’s contribution. She came up with over thirty, one-minute history lessons. Some of the topics, and the people chosen to read them for the radio broadcasts, included: Mike Madura, told the story of Madura’s Danceland; Postmaster Wendell Potocsky talked about Whiting’s post office; Undertaker Tom Owens explained what happened to the only cemetery in Whiting’s history. (See an example of a “Peek at the Past” at the end of this article.)

The Indiana Bicentennial Commission encouraged cities to develop projects like those, but it also hoped that cities would create projects that would last for decades to come. In Whiting-Robertsdale, two Bicentennial projects did that. Both hit their 50th anniversaries in 2026. One is the name, “Nathan Hale Elementary School.”

Built in 1901, McGregor Elementary School showed its age by the 1970s. A new school was built to replace it. The new school building opened in 1975. Even though it was a new building, the school kept its old name. Ambrose M. McGregor, was one of America’s wealthiest men in the last part of the 1800s. He played an important role in the building of the Standard Oil Refinery in Whiting. But it was decided in 1976 that it would be a good Bicentennial project to come up with a name for the new school building.

The students at McGregor were asked to play a role. There were, of course, guidelines before that task was handed over to elementary school students. In keeping with the Bicentennial, the new name would have to honor a Revolutionary era figure. The students were asked to nominate five individuals. The School Board was left with the task of choosing one of those five. They chose to honor Nathan Hale. The school still bears the name, Nathan Hale Elementary School.

The other Bicentennial project that lives on is the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society. The idea to create a Historical Society came from the Whiting-Robertsdale Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber held an organizational meeting at the Community Center on October 22, 1975. At that meeting it was decided that the Historical Society would be a Bicentennial project of the Chamber. John Wilhelm got the project started, but by early 1976, Jim Sandrick was at the helm as the Historical Society’s first president.

The Historical Society did not have an office, but it did have big plans. One was to turn an empty hallway in City Hall into a “scenic walkway resembling parts of the city as it was back in 1889.”  It would include a re-creation of the bunkhouse built by Standard Oil for its first workers; the old Lake Shore railroad depot; and Ciesar’s blacksmith shop. The project did not get off the ground.

Another project was more successful. The Whiting-Robertsdale group got the state of Indiana to place a historical marker in the city. The marker was located near the east entrance of Whiting Park and was dedicated on October 2, 1977.  91-year-old Art Biesen and 82-year-old Frieda Schnell were given the honor of unveiling the plaque. Both were descendants from Whiting’s earliest families.

At the top of the plaque was the Bicentennial logo. Below that was the story of “Pop Whiting’s Siding.” Herbert “Pop” Whiting was a railroad conductor. He was the conductor on the first passenger train to pass through what is now the city of Whiting. The city was named after him. Why? No one knows for sure, but the historical marker gave one popular explanation. It told the story of how Conductor Whiting heroically ditched a train near here to keep it from being hit by a faster-moving train. In honor of that act, the location was called Whiting.

While the story was probably not true it was a good story, and it was repeated on the historical marker. The marker stood at the entrance to the park for many years. It was later taken down and put into storage by the city.

While the plaque collects dust the Historical Society is still alive and active, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026. The Historical Society serves as a Bicentennial celebration gift from the people who lived in Whiting in 1976, to the people who live in Whiting today.

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“A Peek at the Past” was a one-minute radio feature that aired on Hammond’s WJOB radio station in 1976. It was a Bicentennial celebration project initiated by the public library systems in Lake County. Each “Peek” was a short story about the county’s various communities. The Whiting Public Library produced over thirty of them about Whiting-Robertsdale. Each one was read by a different resident of the community. Below is one Whiting “Peek at the Past.” It aired in July 1976.

This is John Jaros of Whiting with another “Peek at the Past.”

If you are a property owner who has had an unfortunate experience while mowing your lawn after the neighborhood dog has been through, you most certainly support Whiting’s recently passed animal control ordinance; however, the animal control problem is not a new one and this ordinance had a historical precedent.

Back in November of 1912, the Whiting Call ran an editorial telling of “citizen unhappiness” with a city administration that did not have an ordinance to prevent cows from running loose, and damaging property. The article complained how the cows broke down chicken fences, permitting the chickens to run loose, and proceeded to eat the chicken feed. Lawns were littered with filth and fear was expressed of an angry cow attacking a child.

The article even accused some irresponsible cow owners of taking “their cows out and showing them how to sort through the garbage cans” to get what they could to eat.

So, Whitingites, the next time you mow your lawn, be glad all your problems are small ones.

This Historical Minute has been presented by the Whiting Public Library and Radio Station WJOB.