Historic Structures of
Gary, Indiana
Downtown Area
Gary, Indiana (pop: 116,646), the newest major city in America
according to the Funk and Wagnall's New Encyclopedia (1996 edition),
was built on a sandy lakefront wilderness in three years (beginning
in 1901; incorporated in 1909) by the brand-new United States
Steel Company. Though the country's newest major city, Gary still
boasts a large amount of (largely unappreciated) historic architecture.
Unfortunately, after decades of urban decay, Gary looks anything
but new.
Steel production at the mighty U.S. Steel Works on the lakefront
is clearly visible from the Toll Road. Gary is still one of the
largest steel producers in the world, but automation drastically
cut its employed base, resulting in a severe drop in Gary's median
income.
Carefully planned by Elbert H. Gary, founder of U.S. Steel, all
major streets of Gary lead to the mill entrance.
The Indiana Toll Road exit provides excellent access to the
downtown area, and a transportation center and South Shore stop
gives easy access by train. However, a 10,000 seat municipal
convention and sports complex with a 30,000 square foot main
arena, built in the early '80s near the exit, failed to revive
the downtown area.
The flourishing Indiana University Northwest campus is in
Gary, as is beautiful Marquette Park with its lakeshore beaches
and inland lagoons, where Father Marquette first landed in what
was to become Indiana. Gary also boasts the entrance to the most
beautiful of the beaches in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore,
with its Paul H. Douglas Visitors' Center and vast parking area.
Gary boasts architecture by such notables as George Maher
and Son, William Holabird, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Booming casinos
are bringing a new influx of cash to the city.
If Gary cares enough, it can still save some of its historic
architecture.
The question is, does it care at all?
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interior Pictures by Dan Orr
