219 is the North American telephone area code for Northwest Indiana that includes Lake, Porter, La Porte, Newton, and Jasper counties. The area code includes such cities as Schererville, Chesterton, Lake Station, Crown Point, Cedar Lake, Hobart, Whiting, Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, Merrillville, Munster, Griffith, Highland, Portage, Valparaiso, Michigan City, St. John, La Porte and Rensselaer. It is largely coextensive with the Indiana side of the Chicago metropolitan area. Service is provided by Frontier Communications.
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In 1948, area code 317 was split into northern and central sections. Central Indiana retained the 317 area code, and Northern Indiana received the new 219. This made it the first new area code created after the original system went into effect a year earlier in 1947. Eventual depletion of numbers by the end of the 20th century prompted a three-way split of the area code. A random drawing was held to determine which region would retain 219, and Northwest Indiana was selected. Area code 574 was then assigned to the north-central area (South Bend), and area code 260 to the northeast including (Fort Wayne). The area codes split on January 15, 2002, with mandatory dialing taking effect on June 14, 2002.[1]
| Indiana area codes: 219, 260, 317, 574, 765, 812 | ||
|---|---|---|
| North: 269, Lake Michigan | ||
| West: 708, 773, 872 and 815/779 | area code 219 | East: 574 |
| South: 765 | ||
| Michigan area codes: 231, 248, 269, 313, 517, 586, 616, 734, 810, 906, 947, 989 | ||
| Illinois area codes: 217, 224, 309, 312, 331, 618, 630, 708, 773, 779, 815, 847, 872 | ||