What to See in Valparaiso - Top Sights and Attractions

Theatre in Valparaiso, Indiana. The Porter County Memorial Hall, also known as Memorial Opera House, is an historic Grand Army of the Republic memorial hall located in Valparaiso, Indiana. It was the meeting place of Chaplain Brown GAR Post No. 106, one of 592 GAR posts in Indiana. Designed in 1892 by a local architect, Charles F. Lembke. using Romanesque styling, it was built in 1892–3 to seat 100 people. It was also used as the local opera house.

Local legend says that Wm Jennings Bryan spoke at the hall during the 1896 presidential campaign. Others who have been to the hall include Theodore Roosevelt, John Phillips Sousa, Marx Brothers. Decline began with the advent of the movies, for which it was converted. By the time of World War II it was an abandoned building. Beginning in 1955, the Community Theatre Guild leased the property and began maintaining it once again for theater productions, continuing to do so under a lease agreement with Porter County until the county again took full possession in the late 1990s to facilitate structural renovation and restoration. The Board of Commissioners for Porter County, who manage and maintain the structure, restored the hall in 1998, and established a new community theatre troupe and public management for touring productions, allowing the building to continue to be used as a theatrical and assembly facility as originally intended.

The Memorial Opera House is located at 104 Indiana Avenue just east of the historic Porter County Jail and Sheriff's House. At the time of construction, Indiana Avenue was called Mechanics Street. The Opera House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It was restored in 1998.Today, the Memorial Theatre Company produces six theatrical performances each year and host community concerts and other events. p^[1]

Museum in Valparaiso, Indiana. The Porter County Museum is located inside the former Porter County Jail & Sheriff's Residence, southeast of the Porter County Courthouse in Valparaiso, Indiana.

The former Porter County Jail & Sheriff's Residence has been home to the Porter County Museum since May 11, 1975. It is located at 153 South Franklin, Valparaiso, Indiana on the southeast corner across from the courthouse square. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Awarded the Outstanding Historical Organization of the Year by the Indiana Historical Society in 2016, the Porter County Museum, commonly referred to as the PoCo Muse, maintains six permanent and one featured exhibit, as well as programs and activities throughout the year. Artifacts of interest are a mastodon tusk (which was discovered on Myron Benedict's Boone Grove farm in 1949), WWII-era wedding dress created from the silk of a parachute, Joseph Bailly's personal trunk, and thousands of other objects cared for by the Porter County Museum.^[2]

Building in Valparaiso, Indiana. The Chapel of the Resurrection is the centerpiece structure on the campus of Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. It has been described as the largest collegiate chapel in the United States and the second largest collegiate chapel in the world. Because judgments about the relative size of such buildings can be difficult, other universities have made similar claims.

Primarily used to facilitate many Lutheran campus worship services, the Chapel of the Resurrection also serves as a site for convocations, musical performances, guest lectures, and commencement ceremonies.

The chapel's chancel is 98 feet (30 m) high and is circular in shape; the roof of the apse is shaped like a nine-pointed star. The nave is 58 feet (18 m) high and 193 feet (59 m) long. The building capacity is around 2000, although this number is flexible depending upon the configuration of the chairs, which recently replaced the pews. To the southwest of the Chapel lies the Brandt Campanile, a 12-bell tower rising 143 feet (44 m) tall.

Clearly visible from U.S. Route 30 and throughout the surrounding community, the building is located on the highest point of ground on the Valparaiso University campus and is a Northwest Indiana landmark.^[3]

Building in Valparaiso, Indiana. The congregation of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Valparaiso, Indiana, was founded in 1862 by 69 German families. The church building was erected in 1891 by Henry Lemster and his son, Charles. A fire gutted the building in 1975, marks of which can still be seen on the altar and pews. The Immanuel Lutheran congregation moved to a new site on Glendale Boulevard, while 60 members formed a new congregation named Heritage Lutheran Church and restored the historic building.

An undated old photo shows a taller steeple and a two-story parsonage adjacent to the parish hall, which is no longer extant. A photo from the courthouse tower northward, c. 1900, shows the taller steeple on the church.

The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.^[5]

Private university in Valparaiso, Indiana. Valparaiso University is a private university located in Valparaiso, Indiana. It is a Lutheran university with about 3,000 students from over 50 countries on a campus of 350 acres.

Valpo has five undergraduate colleges and a graduate school. It is home to the second-largest collegiate chapel in the world, the Chapel of the Resurrection.

Originally named Valparaiso Male and Female College, Valparaiso University was founded in 1859 as one of the first coeducation colleges in the United States. Due to reverses brought about by the Civil War, the college was forced to close in 1871. Two years later it was revived by educator Henry Baker Brown and named Northern Indiana Normal School and Business Institute. At the turn of the 20th century, Brown changed the college's name to Valparaiso College, and soon after it was rechartered as Valparaiso University. Initially founded by Methodists, the Lutheran University Association purchased it in 1925. The Association continues to operate it today.^[6]

Building in Valparaiso, Indiana. Heritage Hall is the oldest building on the campus of Valparaiso University in the U.S. state of Indiana. Built in 1875 by John Flint, it was used as a residence hall for men. In 1878, a fire destroyed the third floor. The building was later purchased by Richard Abraham Heritage, remodeled into a two-story school of music, and renamed Heritage Hall. At different times throughout its history, Heritage Hall underwent renovations. It was used as a dormitory, a barracks, a machinery classroom, and finally a library when Valparaiso University was bought by the Lutheran University Association in 1925. In 1959, the new Moellering Library had been completed and the building was converted to classrooms and offices. Heritage Hall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Today, Heritage Hall is part of the Valparaiso University School of Law and houses the Valparaiso University Law Clinic, which provides free legal services to qualifying members of the community. In 2006, the then-Dean of Valparaiso University School of Law, Jay Conison, announced that the addition attached to Heritage Hall, formerly the University Mail Center, would be demolished during the summer of 2009. A new addition to Heritage Hall, known as the Lawyering Skills Center, was built in its place. The University's Law Clinic will operate from this new facility, and the building will host other activities focused upon practical skill-building for law students. The construction of this new building was made possible by a $4 million donation.^[9]