Editing Munster, Indiana (section)

==History==
The [[Ibach House]] and [[Stallbohm Barn-Kaske House]] are listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref><ref name="nps">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/listings/20110107.htm|title=National Register of Historic Places Listings|date=January 7, 2011|work=Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 12/27/10 through 12/30/10|publisher=National Park Service}}</ref>

===Early history===
The earliest known inhabitants of the area were the [[Potawatomi]]. Although a village did not exist in what was to become Munster's town boundaries, a trail along the dry sandy ridge now known as Ridge Road was well traveled by the indigenous inhabitants. Today, Munster's downtown area, the Town Hall, Police and Fire Department headquarters, the Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, and the Munster Post Office are all situated on Ridge Road.<ref name =ParkPDF>{{cite web|url=https://www.munster.org/egov/documents/1542401117_29583.pdf|title=Introduction: History and Background|work=Munster and Parks Recreation}}</ref>

In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the area that is today Munster was part of land claimed by France as French territory. In the 1760s the British claimed the land where the Potawatomi lived as part of the [[British Empire]]. Twenty years later [[George Rogers Clark]] overran the British in the [[American Revolutionary War]], claiming the land for the newly independent [[United States|United States of America]].

In the 1850s, as the numbers of Native Americans dwindled, pioneer settlers began to inhabit the area which would become Munster to grow crops and provide dairy products to the profitable markets in Chicago.<ref name=townhistory />

When Jacob Munster, a young man from the Netherlands who until the 1860s spelled his surname "Monster,"<ref>Hmurovic, Edward, _Munster, Indiana_ (part of the "Images of America" series), Arcadia Publishing, 2003, p. 13</ref> opened an area general store complete with a U.S. postal station on the back, the local farmers and settlers came to rely on the postal station, which soon became a [[United States Post Office]]. The post office was named Munster, as it was located in Jacob Munster's general store.

Before long more and more people moved to the "Munster" area, and in 1907 Munster was incorporated as a town, with 76 residents voting "yes" for the incorporation and 28 voting "no."<ref name=ParkPDF />

===Modern times===
[[File:Residents boat down a main street in Munster, IN.jpg|thumb|left|Residents boat down Calumet Avenue following the impact of [[Effects of Hurricane Ike in inland North America|Hurricane Ike]].]]

Munster soon became a booming town that attracted many people. Munster saw difficult times through the rough years of the [[Great Depression]]. During the Cold War, Munster served as the site of the Nike-Zeus Missile defense base C-46. The site was closed in 1971 and is now under private ownership.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/6540/northwest.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027154557/http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/6540/northwest.html|title=Nike Missile Sites &ndash; Northwest Indiana / Chicagoland|archive-date=October 27, 2009}}</ref>

In September 2008, Munster's northern portions suffered flooding resulting from the impact of [[Effects of Hurricane Ike in inland North America|Hurricane Ike]], which caused the Little Calumet River to overflow. A main break occurred in the levee located near the intersection of Calumet Avenue and River Drive in the northwest quadrant of the town. Munster has requested the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]] to elevate the levee in low-lying areas. The levee improvements have been completed and the majority of homes destroyed have been rebuilt, in most cases, with larger, more amenity-filled homes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/article_b71bb091-6afe-5577-85f3-b238f54f84d3.html?mode=story|title=New homes, some supersized, reviving older neighborhoods|author=LU ANN FRANKLIN - Times Correspondent|date=September 10, 2010|work=nwitimes.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/image_b4fba8d1-e214-54b5-980f-c865be9599e8.html|title=Rise in signed contracts lifts housing market|author=Heather Eidson, file - The Times|date=December 31, 2010|work=nwitimes.com}}</ref>

The 2010 Comprehensive Plan for Munster's next twenty years includes plans for a new town center with shopping and dining to be organized around a proposed train station.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://issuu.com/sowerberry/docs/2010_comprehensive_plan_for_munster|title=2010 Comprehensive Plan|work=Issuu}}</ref>