Comets at Sunset ca. 1972

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The Ainsworth vintage-car expert tells me that the cars in the foreground are 1972 or 1973 Mercury models, while the cars in the background are Comets.

On the back of the card, Art Hill is bragging about the "NEW TOWN of Merrillville" — the town was officially incorporated in 1971.




I think the photo was taken at sunset. The photographer was facing south-southwest. Could you get that artistic-looking sky in that direction at sunset? It would be a chore to get up at sunrise just to take a picture. No, it was sunset, and after taking the photo the photographer went to get something to eat at the York Steak House in Southlake Mall.

Here's a present-day view of the same building (more or less), which was built in 1972 per the county records:


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image from Google street view.

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I monitor collectibles for sale on Ebay that relate to both Merrillville and Hobart. The difference between what turns up in my searches for each is striking. Most of the items relating to Merrillville involve commerce in the 1970s through 1990s. A lot of the collectibles are ticket stubs from performances at the Star Theater. On a few occasions I have come across items that go further back. But those are rare treats.

For Hobart, it's the opposite. Postcards from the first half of the 20th century are so abundant that I find myself passing up images that I already have an original of (unless the message on the back is particularly interesting) and I've even found things even going back to the 19th century. And yet the two towns are roughly the same age. Merrillville, I believe, was much smaller throughout much of its history, until the population boom of the 1950s. And, again, it wasn't officially a town until 1971.

Merrillville today seems a sprawling anthill of commerce and traffic. It doesn't have a downtown on a human scale, the way Hobart does. It doesn't have a central figure, like a mayor. It doesn't have an emblematic topographical feature, like Hobart's Lake George.

If you want to buy a car, though, you have a lot of choices in Merrillville.

Does it sound like I'm maligning Merrillville? Heaven forbid, after the hundreds or thousands of hours I've spent in its library and its historical museum, not to mention its Menards and Meijer! Also, part of Deep River County Park is technically in Merrillville. So how could I not love it?