Researching Local Land Histories

Had a great time talking about resources and methods for researching the histories of local properties. This was focused towards urban farmers and suburban gardeners in Northwest Indiana but there's lots of information, especially during the chat at the end, that I think folks anywhere could find useful.

Thanks to Purdue Extension Lake County for having me!

Link: https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/rec/share/0qcSl7rtzbTaRwXwh3N7gFzh32SHKD-iwI0zwXewK-S8wyRyVmMrucTEJeBsjilV.HmNvugVLDU3t6iwR

Password: !&&l#57r

Here are the links mentioned in the video:

IDEM: Brownfields Map IDEM: What’s In My Neighborhood? Indiana Historical Aerial Photo Index Web Soil Survey Soil Survey Geographic Public Land Survey System essay

And I forgot to mention the Lake County GIS/Assessor website!

Thanks to Tom Novak for the following tips:

• You can contact Lake County (IN) Auditor employee Dan Holobawski <holobda @ lakecountyin . org>

• Those more extensive property records they can share sometimes go back to 1930s and 1940s. May need to put in a formal request for records, not sure. Lake County Treasurer website.

Searching specific addresses through https://www.newspapers.com/ can yield great results but there is a paywall.

And on the topic of soil and water health

• Well water testing in Indiana

• University of Amherst soil testing was recommended as an inexpensive option that gives greater detail on the presence of heavy metals than most soil tests do.