Granger: Close to everywhere

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Park in Granger — A comfortable pavilion overlooks a modern playground and nearby pickleball courts. The park on Elm Road, built in 2016, is one of two in Granger operated by the Harris Township trustee’s office. (photo by Doug Ross)

Great schools, great location draw
new residents to unincorporated town

Granger’s 2023 population of 30,279 means it ranks 35th largest among Indiana cities, right between Michigan City and Schererville. Or it would, if it were an incorporated municipality.

It’s about 26 square miles, but the borders are porous, with Mishawaka nibbling away at lucrative commercial properties.

“It’s hard to define. Part of Granger is actually in Elkhart County,” state Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger, said. “Granger is kind of, gosh, it’s hard to really figure out how far it goes.

“Very jagged when it comes to how it looks on the south side. Of course, the northern boundary is the state of Michigan.”

Shelly Lindsay, board member and former executive director of Granger Paths, understands this well.

“I have said, oh, it would be so nice if we had a sign that said, ‘Welcome to Granger,’ but everybody said, ‘where would you put it?’” she said.

The Granger community was founded in 1883 as a train depot. Talk of incorporating has come up occasionally since then, but nothing has come of it.

Harris Township Trustee Ken Lindsay said the Mishawaka annexation impact is “more complex than one might imagine.”

With no mayor or town council, he’s as close as it gets for Granger having an elected official to bring concerns to.

St. Joseph County Council President Dan Schaetzle also lives in Granger. The Republican has fought for road funding and a new county park, finally coming to fruition in Granger.

What drew Schaetzle to Granger is a combination of things that have brought others — great schools and a great location.

“The best thing about the community is the people,” Rogers said. “Everybody loves it here.”

Gateway location

Rob Meyers, president of Office Interiors and Vista Technologies, lives and works in Granger. His family is originally from Elkhart. Now he lives on the border.

“(Granger) really is kind of a gateway to different communities, which makes it attractive,” Meyers said.

The Indiana Toll Road runs right through Granger, making Northwest Indiana, Chicago, Ohio and Fort Wayne within an easy drive.

Shelly Lindsay loves being so close to Chicago, about 90 minutes away.

“I love Chicago. I absolutely love Chicago,” she said. “The riverwalk is just beautiful.

“I’m a big believer in you don’t want your world to get small.”

Rogers, who lives close to the Michigan state line, enjoys traveling to southwest Michigan for shopping and Lake Michigan, but she also is close to Indiana attractions.

Elkhart has an aquatics center and the RV/MH Hall of Fame. To the west, there’s the University of Notre Dame and Bethel University with a variety of sporting and cultural events, she said.

“I think we have really a little bit of everything here,” Rogers said.

Being close to everywhere drew Meyers not only to live in Granger but also to locate his business there.

At one point, Office Interiors had two offices, one each in South Bend and Elkhart, only 14 miles apart. He chose Granger because it’s between the two with easy access to the entire market. Office Interiors and its sister company, Vista Technologies, have a showroom and office space as well as a warehouse also in Granger.

Now Office Interiors has a second location again, having recently joined forces with HDW Commercial Interiors in Merrillville.

Office Interiors focuses on office furniture and commercial flooring while Vista Technologies deals with professional audio and visual gear. The popularity of Zoom and Microsoft Teams meetings has been a boon to business.

“We really try to make it easier for our customers by having an integrated approach,” Meyers said.

Outdoor recreation

Rogers owns the Juday Creek Golf Course but had little time for golfing this summer because of a fire that destroyed the clubhouse last year. She does take time, however, to enjoy tap dancing at the Conservatory of Dance in Granger.

Ken Lindsay opened a township park on Elm Road in 2016.

“I conceived and designed it as a ‘destination on the Granger Path,’ nestled among many subdivisions, on land owned by the township, and consisting of play areas and, more recently, a restoration of the type of prairie and savannah that was once in the area — the Harris Prairie,” he said. “The park has been busy from the day it opened, and actually before it opened. It includes the first outdoor pickleball courts in the (much larger) area, and they are still among the best.”

Granger Paths gets a lot of credit for helping bring outdoor recreation to Granger. The nonprofit is working to connect the parks, library and other amenities. An annual 5K run and 1-mile walk helps the organization raise more than money.

“That’s kind of our fundraiser that keeps people aware of what we’re doing,” Shelly Lindsay said.

The kind of people who participate are the ones who enjoy using pathways.

Granger Paths also sells bricks as well as shaking the grants tree hard.

In many communities, the local parks and planning departments do this sort of thing.

“It’s not like we have a city. We’re not a city. We don’t have those amenities that South Bend or Mishawaka have,” Lindsay said. The nonprofit sprung up to serve that need.

The current project for Granger Paths is raising funds for the first leg of the trail to the new county park being built on Anderson Road.

St. Joseph County Parks is developing the new 115-acre Anderson Road County Park, which will feature a fishing pier, playground, boardwalk, trails, sand volleyball court, native prairie and more.

Construction was set to begin in September with substantial completion by November 2026.

“It will be a very beautiful place,” Schaetzle said.

The property was acquired by the county in 1999 for future development as a park. Schaetzle had to work hard to bring that park to fruition.

“I’m the one who got it done,” he said, thwarting infighting in the Republican Party. “I have not had to break any arms; they’ve tried to break mine.”

“I decided that I serve my constituents,” he said, and formed a coalition with the four Democrats on the County Council to allocate money for the new park and roads in Granger.

That resulted in Schaetzle getting kicked out of the Republican caucus, he said, but with moderate Democrats, he succeeded in bringing those dollars to Granger.

The Democrats’ compromise involved giving up on some pet projects that Schaetzle’s fellow Republicans wouldn’t agree to fund.

“Roads and parks are not Republican or Democrat issues,” he said.

Infrastructure

In the future, Schaetzle hopes to see a highway garage built in Granger.

A Microsoft data center proposed for Granger has been controversial. Four water providers reached an agreement in late August to collaborate rather than continue to fight over the new customer.

The data center, while a potential windfall to the county’s tax base, highlights one of Granger’s biggest challenges. Most of Granger is on private wells and septic systems.

“It’s not the same as having the municipal services, when you have municipal sewer and water,” Rogers said.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a negative. I don’t like to look at it that way,” she said. “As long as you maintain your systems, you’re OK.”

“We don’t pay for water and sewer,” Schaetzle said, but septic systems are costly when they need to be repaired or replaced. He knows of some homeowners who have to have the septic tank pumped every few months instead of every few years.

For the new clubhouse at Juday Creek Golf Course, Rogers is working with Mishawaka to connect to the municipal water and sewer systems.

“Economic development is good for any community,” she said. Mishawaka bought a portion of the golf course property for a municipal well field and is leasing it back to Rogers for the country club. Mishawaka’s fieldhouse is right next to the golf course.

Mishawaka’s annexation doesn’t escape Schaetzle’s attention. As he discussed Granger’s future at a Martin’s Supermarket location, he acknowledged that the “Gucci Martin’s” with its upstairs dining area overlooking the deli is actually in Mishawaka. The city gobbled up a retail development and the subdivision behind it that was developed at the same time.

The appetite for annexation includes businesses but not so much for subdivisions, which tend to cost more for services than they generate in property taxes.

Reasons to move home

Among Granger’s attractions is Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp., one of Indiana’s top-performing districts. Heather Short, an educator and administrator in the district for 31 years, took over as superintendent in July.

Under the retired Jerry Thacker, the district reached a 98% graduation rate.

Northpoint and Prairie Vista elementary schools are in the top 10 statewide for English and language arts and math scores. Discovery Middle School ranked third.

“What brought us to Granger is basically the school system,” Shelly Lindsay said. “We were extremely happy with the educational system around here.”

Lindsay’s daughter, who lived in Wisconsin, moved back to Granger, in part because of the school system, along with other quality-of-life considerations. When her daughter was listing things she was looking for in a community, Granger had them all.

“It’s still kind of a Midwestern values, nice place to raise your family,” Meyers said.

In addition to the K-12 schools, there are plenty of opportunities for higher education nearby, with Notre Dame, Indiana University South Bend, Bethel University, Ivy Tech Community College and others attracting students from Granger.

Community spirit

After moving to Granger 30 years ago, Rogers has seen a lot of changes.

“The biggest change, I think, is there are so many new homes since we’ve been here,” she said. When the golf course was developed, Rogers and her husband also developed the Juday Creek subdivision and its custom homes.

The community “kind of exploded” in the 1990s, with rapid population growth. “The infrastructure has grown with Granger.” Indiana 23, which used to be two lanes, is now four lanes through Granger.

“People are friendly. They’re great neighbors. Everybody helps everybody,” Rogers said.

Volunteerism is strong in Granger, too. Shelly Lindsay is an example.

“I believe very strongly that you need to give back,” she said. “You can be an agent for positive change through volunteering.”

Lindsay is involved with For Michiana, run out of Granger Community Church. The ministry looks for agencies in need of volunteers and plans a service day, sending hundreds of volunteers on a Saturday to assist 13 different nonprofits.

Food Drop, another program, has sent six truckloads of food to be distributed throughout the area. More than 1,000 volunteers gather at the end of January, some doing inside work and others out in the cold, packing food to be distributed to 30 different low-income apartments, food pantries and other destinations.

“I just believe it’s really important to be involved in the community,” Lindsay said. •

Read more stories from the current issue of Northwest Indiana Business Magazine.

Doug Ross
Doug Ross is an award-winning journalist with 40 years of experience in Northwest Indiana. Ross is a native Hoosier and a graduate of Valparaiso University.
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