Trail Creek, Indiana
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1983. It stands in Michigan Township. It lies in ZIP code area 46360. It stands on East Branch Trail Creek. The Survey maps it on the Michigan City East quadrangle. 2,060 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 627 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresTrail Creek grew from 2,052 to 2,060 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2,052 | |
| 2020 | 2,060 | +8 (+0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 11 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1953 USGS Chicago quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS Chicago quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Michigan City East quadrangle1:24000
- 1969 USGS Michigan City East quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1983 USGS South Bend quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
34 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 34 fires within 5 miles of Trail Creek between 1992 and 2013, burning about 10 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 4 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | CENTRAL POLE |
| 28 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | W. BALDY |
| 17 September 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | VALLEY |
| 16 September 1995 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | HARVEST |
| 21 August 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | TREE 2 |
| 4 July 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | CENTRAL |
| 28 July 2009 | Natural | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | POWER POLE 249/354 |
| 19 July 2007 | Natural | under an acre | Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore | CENTRAL AVE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Trail Creek: 3 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Silica, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan City Eng. | Stone | Producer | ||
| Michigan City Plant | Silica | Producer | ||
| Sheridan Ave Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
15 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Trail Creek in 15 storm reports between 2007 and 2025: 11 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail Creek | 1 hurt | Local media reported a tree limb fell onto a vehicle at the intersection of Greenwood and Woodland Ave in Michigan City. The impact caused a fire, with a 25 year old female driver having to be extricated. She was reported in critical condition at the time with no further details available on her condition. |
| May 2024 | Hail | Trail Creek | $30,000 | Hail damage to vehicles in downtown Michigan City. Public reports hail of 2 to 3 inches in diameter. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail Creek | $25,000 | Report from the 400 block of Laurel Drive has trees on top of houses. |
| August 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail Creek | $20,000 | The emergency manager reported that multiple trees and power lines were down within the city. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail Creek | $20,000 | Several trees were blown down in and around Michigan City. |
| May 2024 | Hail | Trail Creek | $15,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail Creek | $10,000 | Power lines were reported down in the Michigan City area. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail Creek | $5,000 | Photos show several large trees down in Michigan City. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail Creek | - | Trained spotters reported tree limbs were blown down. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail Creek | - | A trained spotter reported several trees down, one onto a mobile home. No information was provided on possible injuries. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail Creek | - | Several reports of trees and power lines down. |
| August 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail Creek | - | Numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines were reported down in and around the Michigan City area. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trail Creek | - | Numerous trees and power lines down in and around Michigan City. A few reports of trees onto vehicles were received but no damage estimates were available. |
| August 2011 | Hail | Trail Creek | - | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Hail | Trail Creek | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orchard Highlands | 1.6 miles | 11 | |
| Pottawattamie Park | 1.7 miles | 11 | |
| Michigan City | 2.0 miles | 15 | |
| Waterford | 2.0 miles | 11 | |
| Davis | 2.1 miles | 11 | |
| Long Beach | 2.8 miles | 11 | |
| Ambler | 3.5 miles | 11 | |
| Merrick | 3.6 miles | 11 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Trail Creek | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q592843 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 444853. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.




