RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative Quarter for Indiana





Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Merrillville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Merrillville and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Merrillville:
    • 41.478882, -87.322719
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Merrillville
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named Merrillville ...

We found two communities that share the name Merrillville.

Within Indiana, the name Merrillville is unique.

Beyond Indiana, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Lassen County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Merrillville [Lassen County].
    • Georgia
      • Thomas County
      • This Merrillville is located in Thomas County and lies 751 miles [1,208.6 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Merrillville that is located in Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Thomas County community of Merrillville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Merrillville ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Crown Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Deep River
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deep River have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep River
    • Deep River is located in Lake County
  • Deer Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deer Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Creek
    • Deer Creek is located in Lake County
  • Glen Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Glen Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Park
    • Glen Park is located in Lake County
  • Green Acres
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Hobart
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Independence Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Independence Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence Hill
    • Independence Hill is located in Lake County
  • Liberty Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Liberty Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Park
    • Liberty Park is located in Lake County
  • Lincoln Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lincoln Village have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Village
    • Lincoln Village is located in Lake County
  • Liverpool
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Lottaville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Turkey Creek Meadows
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Turkey Creek Meadows have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Creek Meadows
    • Turkey Creek Meadows is located in Lake County

How Far From Merrillville to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a town such as Merrillville to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Merrillville and extending to:

  • Crown Point, which is the Seat of Lake County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 132 miles [212.4 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Merrillville to Indianapolis, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 570 miles [917.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 33 days.
  • The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,190 miles [9,961.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,927 miles [11,147.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,809 miles [7,739.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>

The official website for Merrillville: www.townofmerrillville.com/

The official website for Lake County: www.lakecountyin.org/

The official website for State of Indiana: https://www.in.gov

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Merrillville could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Merrillville) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Merrillville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4789, Longitude: -87.3227    
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<5>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<6>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<7>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Merrillville to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.233 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.043 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.53 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 21 Apr 2025