Lost Structures of
East Chicago, Indiana
1st National Bank & Trust Co. Building
Note: his building has now been demolished and replaced
with a Walgreens, despite the fact that there were and are numerous
available vacant lots just down the street.
JOHN DILLINGER! The very name
conjures up images of black-and-white newsreels, of vintage automobile
chases, of suspense and intrigue.
Paroled in May 1933, Dillinger formed a gang and set out to rob
banks. Captured four months later, he was rescued by gang members.
After robberies in several states, he was arrested in Arizona,
returned to Indiana and jailed at the Crown
Point Jail. He executed a famous escape (using a gun carved
from wood--not soap!) on Mar. 3, 1934, and continued his bank
robberies. In this year, he robbed East Chicago's 1st National
Bank & Trust Co.,* the subject of this page.
The object of a massive manhunt by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), he was lured to the Biograph Theater in Chicago (now a
national landmark) on July 22, 1934, by Anna Sage, the mysterious
so-called Lady in Red. There FBI agents gunned him down
.
*Source of information: Lake County Interim
Report, Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory by Historic
Landmarks Foundation of Indiana.
(Information on Dillinger from Compton's Interactive
Encyclopedia 1998 for Macintosh © 1997 The Learning Company,
Inc.)
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