Editing Lake Station, Indiana (section)

==History==
Initially, the site of modern Lake Station was the starting point of two [[indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous]] trails leading to [[Fort Dearborn]].<ref name=WPA>Workers of the Writers' Program of the Works Project Administration, 1939. ''The Calumet Region Historical Guide'', p.117.</ref> Later it became an early stagecoach depot stop, as the Fort Dearborn-Detroit Stagecoach Route passed through the site during the wet season.<ref name=WPA /> The location became known as Lake Station as far back as 1851 when it began to serve as a [[Train station|depot]], the western terminus of the [[Michigan Central Railroad]]<ref name=WPA /> (on what would later become its [[Detroit]] to [[Chicago]] line). This was the first train station in Lake County.<ref name=WPA /> The Michigan Central Railroad built a park and railroad shops around its two-story depot.<ref name=WPA /> A year later, in April 1852, George Earle mapped out and platted a town<ref name=WPA /> of about {{convert|6500|acre|km2}} on the site, continuing its name of Lake Station.

Being a bedroom community, Lake Station welcomed Abraham Lincoln to its Audubon Hotel, perhaps on more than one occasion, according to oral history. But [[George Pullman]], who tried to negotiate for land in Lake Station for his proposed railcar company, never struck a deal and [[Pullman, Chicago|set up shop on the south side of Chicago]] instead. Prior to its current location in [[Crown Point, Indiana]], the county seat was located on what is now the west end of Lake Station in a section called [[Liverpool, Indiana|Liverpool]], although it was a separate settlement at the time.

The name of Lake Station was officially changed to '''East Gary''' in 1908 in an attempt to lure executives from the nearby [[US Steel]] plant in [[Gary, Indiana]] into creating a [[suburban]] community. With another name change in 1977, primarily to disassociate itself from the urban decay and crime of Gary, the city reverted to its historical designation of Lake Station.

In September 2015, the mayor of Lake Station, Keith Soderquist, and his wife, Deborah Soderquist, were found guilty of conspiracy, wire fraud, and filing false income tax returns. Keith's daughter, Miranda N. Brakley (married name Barnitt), a court clerk, was found guilty of embezzlement and filing bad bankruptcy papers. Under state law, a mayor convicted of a felony forfeits his elected office. The Soderquist's served time in correctional institutions, while Ms. Brakley (Barnitt) served time in house arrest. The Soderquist's and Barnitt are still residents of Lake Station, Indiana. <ref>{{cite web | title = Northwestern Indiana Mayor, Wife Convicted of All Charges | publisher = WISH-TV | date = September 12, 2015 | url = http://wishtv.com/2015/09/12/northwestern-indiana-mayor-wife-convicted-of-all-charges/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Miranda Brakley Was Sentenced to 2 Years Probation | publisher = United States Attorney's Office | date = July 7, 2016 | url = https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndin/pr/miranda-brakley-was-sentenced-2-years-probation}}</ref>