Neighboring Chicago at the Indiana state line, the city of Hammond (pop: 84,236) was incorporated in 1884 and was named after the owner of a large slaughterhouse, the first industry to locate in the area.

Hammond is the first of Lake County's industrial cities, dating back to 1869 when George Hammond began packing beef in ice-filled railroad cars for shipment to the East, ending forever the shipping of live cattle by rail.

Hammond is the home of the first professional football team in the USA, and is the birthplace of local jeweler Alvah Roebuck who sold watches on trains, and who one day met a man named Sears.

Hammond is home today to Purdue University Calumet. It boasts 950 acres of city parks, a marina on its lakefront, 129-acre Gibson Woods Nature Preserve, and an annual cultural festival which has drawn as many as 100,000 visitors. Many events take place at the Hammond Civic Center, which seats nearly 5,000. Here also is the home of much 19th and early 20th Century architecture.

The city remains an industrial center and thriving community in Northwest Indiana. Today it produces soap, processed food, steel, railroad equipment, chemicals, and printed materials.

Hammond is fortunate to have a very large and extensive historic district.