It is difficult to pinpoint George L. Switzer’s exact birth year. Some U.S. Census records list 1860, while others list 1862; however, his gravestone at Greenwood Cemetery in Michigan City gives 1860. Discrepancies like this are common, as census information was often reported from memory and recorded by enumerators, while gravestones were usually based on family-provided information and may reflect the date accepted later in life.
According to U.S. Census data, he was born in La Porte, Indiana, and married Lillian E. Cummins in 1892.
Sometime between 1894 and 1897, he became an ice dealer at 302 C Street in Michigan City. C Street no longer exists and is now part of the Blue Chip Casino property. The city once had A, B, and C Streets, but only E Street remains today. The ice house was located next to a pond now known as Hansen Park.
From an April 1905 article in the Cold Storage and Ice Trade Journal:
ANOTHER MERGER – The Michigan City Ice and Cold Storage Company, of Michigan City, Ind., capitalized at $200,000 has absorbed the Judson Alexander Ice Company and the Geo. L. Switzer Ice Company, dealers in natural ice and manufacturers of ice cream. The new corporation controls the natural and manufactured ice cold storage and ice cream business in the city. Indianapolis and local capitalists are back of the project.”
He died on October 2, 1939, in Michigan City.
1890 – Switzer Geo. L, laborer, lived in a boarding house at the lake front near lighthouse.
1893-94 – Switzer George L, longshoreman (dockworker), home at 310 C Street.
1897-98, 1899 & 1905 – Switzer George (Lillian), ice dealer, home at 302 C Street.
1905 – Switzer George L (Lillian), home at 302 C Street. (no longer listed as an ice dealer)
1907 – Switzer, George L. (Lillian), contractor and builder, home at 2016 Miller.
1909-10 – Switzer, Geo. L (Lillian), carpet contractor, home at 216-1/2 Miller.
1913 – Switzer George L, residence at 118 W 2nd (Lillian)
