Ports of Indiana Timeline

2003: Governor Frank O'Bannon signs new legislation allowing the Ports of Indiana to offer development financing to non-maritime businesses and to develop transportation-related facilities - such as intermodal rail ports - anywhere in the state. (May 8)

2002: Governor Frank O'Bannon dedicates a new $5 million dock - Berth #9 - at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor. (August 28)

2002: Albert S. Jacquez, administrator for the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp., presented 2001 Pacesetter awards to the Port of Indiana and Federal Marine Terminals, the port's general cargo stevedore. Burns Harbor posted a 12-percent jump in 2001 international tonnage over the previous season, garnering the port its fifth Pacesetter Award. (August 28)

2001: Lt. Governor Joe Kernan (1997-present) visits the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor and announces that the annual contribution of Indiana's three ports to the state economy is nearly $1.5 billion. (July 9).

2001: A renovated Indiana International Seafarer Center is unveiled at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor.

2000: The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor receives the Pacesetter Award from the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. The port earned the award due to increased overseas cargo tonnage shipped via the St. Lawrence Seaway during 1999. (March 1)

1996: The Indiana Port Commission website goes live, offering information on its ports, tenants and facilities.

1995: Mary Ann Fagan is appointed by Governor Evan Bayh (1989-1997) as the first female Indiana port commissioner.

1995: A $13 million project begins at Burns Harbor/Portage to redesign the breakwater and create a new underwater segmented reef to reduce wave force on the breakwater. (June)

1994: The opening of Interstate 265 provides direct access to the Clark Maritime Center at Jeffersonville.

1991: Southwind Maritime Center is formally designated as a Foreign-Trade Zone by the U.S. Department of Commerce. (March)

1985: The Clark Maritime Center conducts its first business in August. The port demonstrates its heavy-lift capability when 100-ton automobile presses arrive from West Germany and are lifted onto a fleet of 96 wheel trucks without incident.

1984: The Indiana Port Commission moves its headquarters from Portage to downtown Indianapolis to increase its visibility and better communicate the centralization of the three public ports. (June)

1982: MAPCO Inc., an energy company headquartered in Tulsa, completes a state-of-the-art coal transfer and marine facility with a half-mile long conveyer belt system at the Southwind Maritime Center.

1982: A full 12 years after the initial legislative appropriation for Indiana's third public port, groundbreaking for the Clark Maritime Center at Jeffersonville takes place. Years of delay due to Kentucky opposition and environmental concerns make this event extremely significant to the port proponents.

1981: Following the discovery of Mississippi Indian tribe remains, it is recommended that a six-acre section of the Southwind Maritime Center enter the Indiana Historic Register.

1979: Cargill Inc., a grain trader and food processing company, decides to build a $21 million grain elevator at the Burns Harbor site with a 3.4 million bushel storage capacity. The facility is capable of moving 40 million bushels of grain into ships headed for foreign markets.

1976: The Southwind Maritime Center welcomes its first tenant, the Triple T Fertilizer Company of Vincennes, Ind.

1973: The Indiana General Assembly grants $1.75 million for initial land acquisitions at the Clark Maritime Center in Jeffersonville.

1973: The groundbreaking ceremony for the Southwind Maritime Center at Mount Vernon celebrates Indiana's first Ohio River port. Of the port's 1,100 acres, 800 are high, flat, flood resistant land, making it a premier industrial location. (June 1).

1971: The Indiana General Assembly votes to provide an initial $1 million for the Ohio River port project.

1970: Hoosiers celebrate the official dedication of the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor/Portage. Tours of the facilities are given by boat while a lucky few view the port from the Goodyear blimp. (July).

1969: Through the work of representatives from Vanderburgh and Posey counties, the powers of the Indiana Port Commission are broadened to allow the establishment of a port in any county bordering the Ohio River.

1969: The SS Lehigh, a Bethlehem Steel ore boat, becomes the first ship to use Burns Harbor. (September 11).

1969: The Levy Corp. of Detroit becomes the first port tenant at Burns Harbor/Portage.

1966: The formal groundbreaking ceremony at of Indiana's first public port brings approximately 650 people from industry, labor and government. To mark the occasion, shots are fired from the USS Portage, however, the sound fails to reach land due to forty mile per hour winds. (October 10)

1961: Under Governor Matthew Welsh (1961-1965), the Indiana Port Commission (IPC) is established. Replacing the Indiana Board of Public Harbors and Terminals, the bipartisan IPC consists of seven commissioners appointed by the governor. Power now exists to issue port revenue bonds payable from revenues to finance land acquisition, engineering, construction and other related expenses(March 2).

1961: The Port Commission formally selects Indiana's first public port site at the Burns Waterway area in Porter County. (May 18).

1961: Commissioners are sworn in at the first meeting of the Indiana Port Commission held at the Spa Restaurant in Porter County. (April 10).

1961: A public debate occurs at the Indiana State House to discuss the location of Indiana's first public port. Although preliminary agreements cite the Burns Ditch area, a legal necessity exists to welcome all points of view in a public forum. (May 3).

1959: Linking the Great Lakes to global markets, the completed St. Lawrence Seaway begins operation. The Seaway boasts more than 15 major ports with half maintaining a 27-foot water depth or more.

1957: The Indiana General Assembly appropriates $2 million for land acquisition at the Burns Ditch area in Porter County.

1939: The Indiana Board of Public Harbors and Terminals (IBPHT) is established with the authority to negotiate with the government regarding land acquisition and construction of a public port.

1935: The formation of NIIDA, the Northern Indiana Industrial Development Association, consists of civic and business organizations that lobby for the creation of a public port in Indiana.

1931: George A. Nelson, manager of the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce, states in a visit to the Michigan lakefront that "as surely as we stand here, a great public port will be built in this area."

1930: An Indiana Congressman offers a resolution calling for preliminary surveys of a port site near Burns Ditch in Porter County. At this time, Lake County performs one-third of the total manufacturing in Indiana, while its neighbor Porter County does less than one percent.

1929: Ohio River construction, including 46 lock and dam structures and a 9-foot channel along the river's entire length, results in traffic exceeding 23 million tons.

1923-26: To develop suitable land for housing and industry, Randall W. Burns heads the effort to build a drainage ditch that enters Lake Michigan. Upon completion, Burns Ditch in Porter County drains a total of 400 square miles of marshland from the area.

1923-25: Porter County welcomes the Indiana Dunes State Park. Creating a geographic focus of the area and boasting an eight-mile shoreline, Indiana port advocates will eventually use its existence to support their case for a public port on Lake Michigan.

1912: Considered the legislative keystone for the revival of inland water transportation, the passage of the Panama Canal Act prohibits railroad control of water carrier operations in the Canal and elsewhere. An exception exists if the Interstate Commerce Commission determines that railroad control is in the public's interest and does not lessen competition.

1906: The United States Steel Corp. builds Gary Works, the largest steel mill in the world, in Gary, Ind. With a private harbor on Lake Michigan, the plant produces more steel than any other mill.

1860: Due to competition with the thriving railroad industry, the Wabash and Erie Canal closes south of Terre Haute. Frequent flood damage and increasing maintenance costs make the Canal difficult to sustain and it shuts down completely in 1874.

1853: The completed Wabash and Erie Canal links Lake Erie and the Ohio River by approximately 460 miles of canal, the longest ever built in the United States. The Indiana portion stretches from Fort Wayne to the southern tip at Evansville.

1816: Before Indiana becomes a state, Congress moves the northern boundary ten miles north into Michigan. Along with adding 1,100 square miles to the state and a portion of Lake Michigan, the possibility of a future port exists.

1787: A landmark document, the Northwest Ordinance, calls for the eventual organization of the Northwest Territories into three to five separate states. While requiring eventual equality of the states, it also allows for free travel on the navigable waterways. (July 13).

1786: The settlement of Fort Finney begins the development of the area surrounding Jeffersonville, Ind. The town would later be home to Clark Maritime Center, Indiana's third public port.

1783: The Paris Peace Treaty marks the end of the Revolutionary War and recognizes America's ownership of the land east of the Mississippi from the Great Lakes to Florida. (September 3).