The intersection of Tenth and I Streets in La Porte occupies a small hill that once held a pond and, from roughly 1845 to the 1970s, the large three-story Andrew-Zimmerman House at 918 I Street. The house was built by Dr. George L. Andrew, a physician who practiced in La Porte and later retired to Chicago. Local oral tradition places a Potawatomi encampment or stop at the same site during the forced removals of the 1830s–1840s (sometimes linked in folklore to the broader Trail of Tears period). According to the story, a young Potawatomi woman died there in 1848; some versions identify her as the daughter of a chief. The house later gained a reputation for unexplained activity and was eventually demolished. A medical clinic or office building now occupies the corner, across from La Porte High School athletic fields.
Reported Hauntings and Folklore
Owners and residents of the Andrew-Zimmerman House, beginning at least with Charles Gwynne in 1904, reported mysterious footsteps, moving shadows, and objects (including old coins) appearing without explanation. The activity was commonly attributed to the spirit of the Potawatomi maiden said to have died at the pond. After the house was torn down in the 1970s, employees and visitors at the medical building constructed on the site continued to describe doors opening and closing by themselves, an elevator operating without passengers, a restroom locking from the inside, and the occasional figure of a young Native American woman. These accounts appear in local historical columns, La Porte County Historical Society materials, and crowdsourced haunted-place listings. They remain within the realm of regional folklore rather than documented investigation.