Historic Timeline

John Barker is born in Andover, Massachusetts

Major Isaac C. Elston purchases the land for Michigan City.

The town of Michigan City is officially incorporated. John Barker,  (1814-1878), age 22, arrives from Andover, Massachusetts. He begins as a general merchant, expanding into grain brokerage.

John Barker marries Cordelia E. Collamer (born 1818) at Trinity Church on Franklin Street. Cordelia was originally from Sandy Hill, New York, and met John when she was visiting her brother Danvers who worked at a bank in Michigan City.

John and Cordelia have a son, John Henry.

The first telegraph lines are put up in Michigan City.

Railroad tracks connect Michigan City to New Buffalo

John Barker, buys into Sherman, Haskell, & Aldridge, a small freight car manufacturing company. It soon becomes the Haskell & Barker Car Company.

John Barker  builds the first Barker Mansion.

The Civil War begins. Haskell & Barker Car Company are given government contracts and produce cars that bring supplies to Union troops.

1869 John Barker retires and his son John H. Barker joins the Haskell & Barker Car Company as general manager. At this time, the factory is producing two train cars per day.

First transcontinental railroad is completed that connects the eastern seaboard to California. A cross country journey used to take 6 months—now it takes just 6 days.

John H. married Eugenia (Genia) Brooks. They have three children who tragically all die in childhood (Cordelia, age 3; Wallace, age 5 months; and Eugenia, age 2). Barker Hall would be built in 1886 in memorial to them.

John Barker passes away.

First telephone installed in Michigan City.

John H. Barker becomes president of the Haskell & Barker Car Company. Under his management, the factory grows. The annual output of the factory is now 1000 cars.

The first renovation on the Barker Mansion begins and is completed by 1899. Based on Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of the time, this is when the dining room was expanded, amongst other changes.

Eugenia Barker, John H.'s first wife, passes away.

John H Barker marries Katherine Fitzgerald (born 1866). Katherine was originally from Manchester, New Hampshire, the daughter of Irish immigrants, and taught at Barker Hall.

Cordelia E. Barker, wife of John, passes away.

John H. and Katherine’s daughter Catherine is born.

John H. and Katherine commission Frederick Wainwright Perkins, prominent Chicago architect, to renovate the Barker Mansion. By 1909, the house will expand to 35,000 square feet, with 38 rooms, 10 bathrooms, and 7 fireplaces.

Haskell & Barker Car Company is now one of Indiana’s largest factories and largest employers, with 3,500 employees producing 15,000 freight cars per year.

Katherine Fitzgerald Barker passes away at age 43.

John H. Barker passed away at age 66. Catherine is now an orphan at age 14, and one of the world's most wealthy young heiresses. Her inheritance is left in the form of a trust overseen by the First National Bank of Chicago. The president of the bank, James Forgan, became Catherine's financial guardian.

Catherine weds Howard Henry Spaulding, Jr. at their summer home in Harbor Point, Michigan. They would file for divorce in 1928.

Catherine sells the Haskell & Barker Car Company to a group of investors from New York. The investors later sell the factory to Pullman Standard in October 1922.

Catherine establishes the Barker Annuity Fund, a fund for workers who were absorbed into Pullman Standard and lost their pensions in the transition. This was the first pension fund in the United States to be funded by a private individual.

Catherine weds Charles V. Hickox. The two would share many happy years. They had 4 children—Katrina (1931-) Sarane (1934-), and twins Charles (1936-) and John (1936-2009). A set of twin boys tragically died in infancy.

Catherine establishes the Barker Welfare Foundation to support non-profit organizations and continue the Barker family's legacy of philanthropy. Over 87 years later, the Barker Welfare Foundation still operates today and supports the community of Michigan City.

Catherine donates the Barker Mansion to Purdue University for their satellite campus. This would be PNW's home until 1968, when the mansion reverted back to the Barker family.

Catherine extends the Barker Mansion to Michigan City to be used as a museum and civic center. Over the next decade, the mansion was fully restored to its appearance in 1910. The Hickox family sent the original furniture, artwork, and artifacts back to the mansion.

Catherine Barker Hickox dies of emphysema in her home. She was 74 years old.

The Barker Mansion is added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. In 2014, the surrounding neighborhood became the Haskell & Barker National Historic District. Today, the interior of the Mansion is over 90% original.