Barbara Stodola, local author and architectural historian, was contacted by board vice president Rima Binder to reconstitute the gardens' history, even though many documents have been lost to fire and floods. Stodola, a 30-year resident of Trail Creek, Indiana, and former art center director, interviewed dozens of people who shared their memories and historical photographs. A graduate of Marquette University and the University of Chicago, Stodola has published articles in numerous periodicals and has written four books, including Michigan City Beach Communities (2003) in Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series.
