THINGS WE DID IN WHITING YEARS AGO
Episode 2: Picnics. MONSTER Picnics.
Jerry Banik, September, 2026
“A book of verses underneath the bough, a loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou...”
...and fun. And music and dancing.
And ball games. And contests and prizes. And wrestling and boxing.
And people. Thousands of people.
And, yes, at least one Eagles picnic here featured a badger fight.
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There are picnics, and then there are PICNICS! At least there used to be.
The word picnic is said to have come from the 17th-century French word pique-nique.
It was originally described as a shared indoor meal where everyone brought their own food, but shifted to mean an outdoor meal in the 1800s
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In America for most of the 1800s, not much more was needed for most picnics than a quiet, shady spot, a blanket to lay on the ground, some sandwiches or maybe fried chicken, and something to drink. Picnics were a great way for workers and their families to take a break from the daily grind of their jobs and the summer heat.
By the early 1900s, those wonderful, little picnics evolved into mass events sometimes referred to as monster picnics. Some were private and others open to the public. Many were held annually. Companies, fraternal organizations, churches, schools, labor unions, and ethnic associations held big picnics as a way to raise money and to promote closeness among their members.
Some of these picnics were so large that their sponsors ran ads in advance, soliciting competitive bids for concessions. In 1916, the Elks Club assigned eighteen separate committees to plan and execute their picnic.
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So, where could sponsors stage such large picnics?
Locally, there were a handful of places where these “monster” picnics could be held.
On Wolf Lake’s northwest shore, American Maize Products (aka Amaizo, or today, Cargill) had enough property to hold festivities on their factory’s grounds, and Whiting’s Standard Oil refinery understandably leaned towards Whiting’s Lakefront Park on Lake Michigan.
Popular picnic grounds at the southern end of Wolf Lake were Douglas Park (now Pulaski Park) and Gruener’s Grove, both on Sheffield Avenue.
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Kindel’s Grove, though, was the most popular spot of them all.
Dozens of big picnics were held at Kindel’s every summer for years.
Owned and operated by five Kindel brothers, it was located on George Lake, which used to extend much further south than it does today. It was accessed from Sheffield Avenue.
Locals may recall that Wolf and George Lakes were once connected by a man-made channel. Sheffield Avenue passed between the lakes and over that channel, which eventually became just a ditch, at a point near where the Indiana Toll Road crosses Sheffield today. The bridge site over the ditch was a regularly scheduled streetcar stop of the Hammond, Whiting and East Chicago Electric Railway, otherwise known as the Green Line.
In the summer, the Green Line added extra cars and more frequent stops just for the monster picnics.
The 1913 Lake County Trades and Labor Council picnic, promoted here, is one example.
As shown in the first image below, early in the 20th century, Swift & Company was harvesting and storing ice from Wolf Lake on the west side of Sheffield. Less than a quarter mile north, on the east side of the road, Otto Haehnel & Sons harvested ice from George Lake. On land there, Kindel’s Grove also hosted picnic after picnic. The second image shows how much the two lakes and the land between them were altered over the next thirty years.
The U.S. Census Bureau indicated that as recently as 1940, four members of the Haehnel family still lived there, and two of the five Kindel brothers still lived next door.
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Games and contests were big attractions.
Maybe a Flanders Coupe was not what you were after? If you didn’t just want to hope your lucky ticket would get drawn, you could try to snag a prize by winning one of these competitions:
There were prizes galore for the winners.
Shirtwaists? If you had to look it up, you’re not alone.
There was music, dancing and entertainment.
While some picnickers may have just enjoyed listening to music, others may have tripped the light fantastic, cut a rug or busted a move. The 1907 Eagles picnic encouraged such “indulgence.”
Many different bands provided the music, like Barney Young’s Dance Band in 1908, Walter Mays’ Amaizo band of the 1930s, plus orchestras like Sterling’s Orchestra, Dick Carlson’s Orchestra as well as the Standard Oil concert band.
There was something for everyone: Fireworks, variety shows, singers, clowns, speakers, an “aeroyacht” in 1913 and much more.
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In fairness, and out of fear of too much rosy retrospection, it’s only right to mention that, just as today, not everything at these picnics was always sunshine, lollipops and roses, as revealed in these stories from the Lake County Times:
1911: “No clues have been learned in the case of John Hewig of East Chicago, who was held up at Kindel’s Grove at the Odd Fellows picnic and robbed of $45.”
1913: “While returning from the Eagles picnic at Kindel’s Grove early last evening, Harry Martin was the victim of pick-pockets. $90 was stolen on a Green Line car. Three suspects were seen to get off the car at Douglas Park and made their way west into the park.”
1910: “While alighting at Kindel’s Grove from a Hammond, Whiting and East Chicago streetcar, a young lady tripped and was thrown to the ground. When helped to her feet by the conductor, her face was covered with blood coming from cuts received by the fall upon the graveled roadway.”
1912: “John Flannigan’s pocket was picked on a crowded streetcar while he was on his way from Kindel’s Grove. Chief Austgen of the Hammond police has issued warning after warning to the public to be wary of ‘dips’ who are working this region.”
1913: “Many narrowly escaped with their lives in Kindel’s Grove during the picnic of associated labor unions when a booth harboring a lunch counter became enveloped in flames. One of the attendants at the stand accidentally tipped over a gasoline stove and the oil ran every way. In a moment the place was in flames.” The heroism of J.J. Callahan and Joseph Kasper “was praised to the skies.”
Nevertheless, putting these and other similar examples aside, wouldn’t it be fun to travel back in time and spend just one of those “good ol’ days” at a monster picnic in Kindel’s Grove?
Pabst beer commercials used to remind us that no one can bring back the good old days. But even if you don’t have a time machine, on a nice day why not just grab some food and drink, and head over to Whiting Park with your family or loved one, spread out a blanket under a tree on the side of the hill, gaze out at the lake and unwind for a while. Years from now, with any luck, you might look back on it as one of your good ol’ days.