Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 69,093 at the 2020 census, making it Indiana's eleventh-most populous city. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the southern shore of Lake Michigan about southeast of downtown Chicago. The city is the western gateway to the Indiana Dunes National Park, and is within the Chicago metropolitan area.
Gary was named after lawyer Elbert Henry Gary, who was the founding chairman of the United States Steel Corporation. U.S. Steel had established the city in 1906 as a company town to serve its steel mills. Since the 1970s, Gary and other Rust Belt cities have lost a high number of people as the steel industry has gone through restructuring and manufacturing jobs moved offshore. As a result of this economic shift, the city's population has declined 61% since the 1960 census.
Although initially a very diverse city, Gary currently has one of the United States's highest percentages of African Americans. Between 1970 and 2010, Gary had the nation's highest Black population per capita. The city has a legacy of African-American cultural and historical accomplishments. In 1945, Gary was the first city in the Midwest (and one of the first in the United States) to fully integrate its public school system. It elected the country's first Black mayor, Richard Hatcher in 1968, and in 1972 hosted the first and largest National Black Political Convention.
Gary is served by the Gary/Chicago International Airport, an alternative to the Chicago region's two larger airports. The city's public transport is provided by the Gary Public Transportation Corporation and the South Shore Line passenger railway, which connects to the Chicago transit system. It is home to a professional baseball team, the Gary SouthShore RailCats. In addition to its large steel mills, the city is known as the birthplace of the Jackson family, well-known entertainers whose members include singers Michael and Janet Jackson.
History
Founding and early years
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Gary, Indiana, was founded in 1906 by the U.S. Steel corporation as the home for its new plant, Gary Works. The city was named after lawyer Elbert Henry Gary, who was the founding chairman of the United States Steel Corporation.
Gary was the site of civil unrest in the 1919 General Steel Strike. On October 4, 1919, a riot broke out on Broadway, the main north–south street through downtown Gary, between steel workers and strike breakers brought in from outside. Indiana governor James P. Goodrich declared martial law three days later. Shortly after that, over 4,000 federal troops under the command of Major General Leonard Wood arrived to restore order.
The steel industry's jobs provided Gary with rapid growth and a diverse population within the first 26 years of its founding. According to the 1920 United States census, 29.7% of Gary's population at the time was classified as foreign-born, mostly from eastern European countries, with another 30.8% classified as native-born with at least one foreign-born parent. By the 1930 United States census, the first census in which Gary's population exceeded 100,000, the city was the fifth largest in Indiana and comparable in size to South Bend, Fort Wayne, and Evansville. At that time, 78.7% of the population was classified as white, with 19.3% as foreign-born and another 25.9% as native-born with at least one foreign-born parent. In addition to white internal migrants, Gary had attracted numerous African-American migrants from the South in the Great Migration, and 17.8% of the population was classified as black. Some 3.5% were classified as Mexican (now likely to be identified as Hispanic, as they included citizens and immigrants of other Spanish-speaking ethnicities).
Post-World War II
thumb|[[U.S. Steel's Gary Works in 1973]]
Gary's fortunes have risen and fallen with those of the steel industry. The growth of the steel industry brought prosperity to the community, and industrial workers gained middle-class standards of living. Broadway was known as a commercial center for the region. Department stores and architecturally significant movie houses were built in the downtown and Glen Park neighborhoods.
But in the 1960s, as manufacturing jobs moved offshore, Gary entered a period of decline. This also occurred in many other American urban centers that were reliant on one particular industry. Gary's decline was brought on by reduced employment in the steel industry overall, which caused U.S. Steel to lay off many workers from the Gary area.
The U.S. Steel Gary Works employed over 30,000 in 1970; the workforce declined to 6,000 by 1990, and to 5,100 by August 2015. Attempts to shore up the city's economy with major construction projects, such as a Holiday Inn hotel and the Genesis Convention Center, failed to reverse the decline.
1968 riots
In July 1968, riots broke out in Gary following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The governor ordered 3,000 National Guard members to assist local police with restoring order to the city. Curfews were enforced, and a ban on gasoline and liquor sales helped calm the violence. During the unrest, more than 110 people were arrested, at least three stores were set on fire, and at least 15 fire-bombings were reported.
Racial changes
A rapid racial change occurred in Gary during the late 20th century. Political power reflected Gary's racial demographics: the Black and Hispanic share of the city's population increased from 21% in 1930 to 39% in 1960, and to 53% in 1970. Black and Hispanic people primarily lived in the Midtown section just south of downtown (per the 1950 Census, 97% of Gary's black population lived in this neighborhood).
Gary voters elected one of the nation's first African-American mayors, Richard G. Hatcher, and hosted the groundbreaking 1972 National Black Political Convention.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Gary had the highest percentage of African-American residents among U.S. cities with a population of 100,000 or more, 84% (as of the 2000 census).
The city's population has fallen well below 100,000 residents. In 2013, the Gary Department of Redevelopment estimated that one-third of all homes in the city were unoccupied or abandoned.
U.S. Steel
U.S. Steel continues to be a major steel producer but has a small fraction of its previous workforce.
While Gary has been unable to establish or replace the manufacturing base, it has worked to diversify. Two casinos opened along the Gary lakeshore in the 1990s, to create an entertainment destination. Their success has been adversely affected by the state closing Cline Avenue, an important means of access to the area.
Today, Gary faces the difficulties of a Rust Belt city, including high unemployment and decaying infrastructure.
21st century
Gary has closed 21 public schools. While some school buildings have been reused, most remain unused since closing. As of 2014, Gary is considering closing additional schools in response to budget deficits.
Gary Chief of Police Thomas Houston was convicted of excessive force and abuse of authority in 2008. He died in 2010 while serving a three-year, five-month federal prison sentence.
In April 2011, 75-year-old mayor Rudolph M. Clay announced that he would suspend his campaign for reelection as he was being treated for prostate cancer. He endorsed rival Karen Freeman-Wilson, who won the Democratic mayoral primary in May 2011. Freeman-Wilson won election with 87 percent of the vote and her term began in January 2012; she is the first woman elected mayor in the city's history. She was reelected in 2015. She was defeated in her bid for a third term in the 2019 Democratic primary by Lake County Assessor Jerome Prince. Since no challengers filed for the November 2019 general election, Prince's nomination was effectively tantamount to election. He officially succeeded Freeman-Wilson on January 1, 2020, two days after being sworn in as the city's 21st mayor on December 30, 2019.
In May 2021, a $300 million Hard Rock Casino opened in the city. Branded as Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, the location includes memorabilia from the local entertainment family, the Jackson 5, and a 1,950-seat Hard Rock Live performance hall.
Geography
thumb|right|Aerial view of Gary International Airport (lower left corner) and [[East Chicago]]
thumb|The [[Chicago skyline viewed across Lake Michigan from Lake Street Beach in Gary's Miller Beach neighborhood]]
The city is located at the southern end of the former lake bed of the prehistoric Lake Chicago and the current Lake Michigan. Most of the city's soil, nearly one foot below the surface, is pure sand. The sand beneath Gary and on its beaches is of such volume and quality that for over a century, companies have mined it, especially for the manufacture of glass.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Miller Beach, Gary's easternmost neighborhood, borders Lake Station and Portage. Gary's southernmost section borders Griffith, Hobart, Merrillville, and unincorporated Ross. Gary is about from the Chicago Loop.
Gary contains the western portion of Indiana Dunes National Park, including Miller Woods, the western part of Long Lake, and the Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education. Much of this is within Gary's Miller Beach neighborhood, although the park's western tip extends to downtown Gary.
Climate
Gary is listed by the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system as humid continental (Dfa). In July and August, the warmest months, high temperatures average 84 °F (29 °C) and peak just above 100 °F (38 °C), and low temperatures average 63 °F (17 °C). In January and February, the coldest months, high temperatures average around 29 °F (−2 °C) and low temperatures average 13 °F (−11 °C), with at least a few days of temperatures dipping below 0 °F (−18 °C).
The weather in Gary is greatly regulated by its proximity to Lake Michigan. Weather varies yearly. In the summer months Gary is humid. The city's yearly precipitation averages about 1016 millimeters (40 inches). Summer is the rainiest season. Winters vary but are predominantly snowy. Snowfall in Gary averages approximately 63.5 centimeters (25 inches) per year. Sometimes large blizzards hit because of "lake effect snow", a phenomenon whereby large amounts of water evaporated from the lake deposit onto the shoreline areas as inordinate amounts of snow.
Neighborhoods
thumb|Map of Gary; gray represents the industrial corridor.
Downtown
thumb|upright|Gary City Hall
Downtown Gary is separated by Broadway into two distinctive communities. Originally, the City of Gary consisted of The East Side, The West Side, The South Side (the area south of the train tracks near 9th Avenue), and Glen Park, located further South along Broadway. The East Side was demarcated by streets named after the States in order of their acceptance into the Union. This area contained mostly wood-frame houses, some of the earliest in the city, and became known in the 20th century for its ethnic populations from Europe and large families. The single-family houses had repeating house designs that alternated from one street to another, with some streets looking very similar. Among the East Side's most notable buildings were Memorial Auditorium (a large red-brick and stone civic auditorium and the site of numerous events, concerts and graduations), The Palace Theater, Emerson School, St. Luke's Church, H.C. Gordon & Sons, and Goldblatt's Department stores, in addition to the Fair Department Store. All fronted Broadway as the main street that divided Gary.
The West Side of Gary, or West of Broadway, the principal commercial street, had streets named after the presidents of the United States in order of their election. Lytton's, Hudson's ladies store, J.C. Penney, and Radigan Bros Furniture Store developed on the west side of Broadway. Developed later, this side of town was known for its masonry or brick residences, its taller and larger commercial buildings, including the Gary National Bank Building, Hotel Gary (now Genesis Towers), The Knights of Columbus Hotel & Building (now affordable housing fronting 5th Avenue), the Tivoli Theater (demolished), the U.S. Post Office, Main Library, Mercy and Methodist Hospitals and Holy Angels Cathedral and School. The West Side also had a secondary principal street, Fifth Avenue, which was lined with many commercial businesses, restaurants, theaters, tall buildings, and elegant apartment buildings. The West Side was viewed as having wealthier residents. The houses dated from about 1908 to the 1930s. Much of the West Side's housing were for executives of U.S. Steel and other prominent businessmen. Notable mansions were 413 Tyler Street and 636 Lincoln Street. Many of the houses were on larger lots. By contrast, a working-class area was made up of row houses made of poured concrete which were arranged together and known as "Mill Houses"; they were built to house steel mill workers.
thumb|'I Love Gary' – Pop Up Arts Display Gateway Park (2019)
The areas known as Emerson and Downtown West combine to form Downtown Gary. It was developed in the 1920s and houses several pieces of impressive architecture, including the Moe House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and another, the Wynant House (1917), which was destroyed by fire. A significant number of older structures have been demolished in recent years because of the cost of restoration. Restructuring of the steel and other heavy industry in the late 20th century resulted in a loss of jobs, adversely affecting the city.
thumb|[[City Methodist Church (Gary, Indiana)|City Methodist Church as it appeared in 2009]]
Abandoned buildings in the downtown area include historic structures such as Union Station, the Palace Theater, and City Methodist Church. A large area of the downtown neighborhood (including City Methodist) was devastated by a major fire on October 12, 1997. Interstate 90 was constructed between downtown Gary and the United States Steel plant.
West
thumb|Homes in the [[Combs Addition Historic District of the Ambridge Mann neighborhood]]
Ambridge Mann is a neighborhood located on Gary's near west side along 5th Avenue. Ambridge was developed for workers at the nearby steel plant in the 1910s and 1920s. It is named after the American Bridge Works, which was a subsidiary of U.S. Steel. The neighborhood is home to a huge stock of prairie-style and art deco homes. The Gary Masonic Temple was located in the neighborhood, along with the Ambassador apartment building. Located just south of Interstate 90, the neighborhood can be seen while passing Buchanan Street.
Brunswick is located on Gary's far west side. The neighborhood is located just south of Interstate 90 and can also be seen from the expressway. The Brunswick area includes the Tri-City Plaza shopping center on West 5th Avenue (U.S. 20). The area is south of the Gary Chicago International Airport.
Downtown West is located in north-central Gary on the west side of Broadway just south of Interstate 90. The Genesis Convention Center, the Gary Police Department, the Lake Superior Court House, and the Main Branch of the Gary Public Library are located along 5th Avenue. A new 123-unit mixed-income apartment development was built using a HUD HOPE VI grant in 2006. Gary Metro Center is located just north of 4th Avenue. It is operated by the Gary Public Transportation Corporation and serves as a multi-modal hub. It serves both as the Downtown Gary South Shore train station and an intercity bus stop.
Tolleston is one of Gary's oldest neighborhoods, predating much of the rest of the city. It was platted by George Tolle in 1857 when the railroads were constructed in this area. This area is west of Midtown and south of Ambridge Mann. Tarrytown is a subdivision located in Tolleston between Whitcomb Street and Clark Road.
South
thumb|[[Indiana State Road 53|Broadway in the Glen Park neighborhood]]
Black Oak is located on the far southwest side of Gary, in the vicinity of the Burr Street exit to the Borman Expressway. It was annexed in the 1970s. Prior to that, Black Oak was an unincorporated area informally associated with Hammond, and the area has Hammond telephone numbers. After three referendums, the community voters approved annexation, having been persuaded by Mayor Hatcher that they would benefit more from services provided by the city than from those provided by the county. In the 21st century, it is the only majority-white neighborhood in Gary.
Glen Park is located on Gary's far south side and is made up mostly of mid-twentieth-century houses. Glen Park is divided from the remainder of the city by the Borman Expressway. The northern portion of Glen Park is home to Gary's Gleason Park Golf Course and the campus of Indiana University Northwest. The far western portion of Glen Park is home to the Village Shopping Center. Glen Park includes the 37th Avenue corridor at Broadway.
Midtown is located south of Downtown Gary, along Broadway. In the pre-1960s days of de facto segregation, this developed historically as a "black" neighborhood as African Americans came to Gary from the rural South in the Great Migration to seek jobs in the industrial economy.
North and East
thumb|Commercial district in the [[Miller Beach neighborhood]]
Aetna is located on Gary's far east side along the Dunes Highway. Aetna predates the city of Gary. This company town was founded in 1881 by the Aetna Powder Works, an explosives company. Their factory closed after the end of World War I.
The Town of Aetna was annexed by Gary in 1928, around the same time that the city annexed the Town of Miller. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Gary's prosperous industries helped generate residential and other development in Aetna, resulting in an impressive collection of art deco architecture. The rest of the community was built after World War II and the Korean War in the 1950s, in a series of phases. On its south and east, Aetna borders the undeveloped floodplain of the Little Calumet River.
Emerson is located in north-central Gary on the east side of Broadway. Located just south of Interstate 90, Gary City Hall is located in Emerson, along with the Indiana Department of Social Services building and the Calumet Township Trustee's office. A 6,000-seat minor league baseball stadium for the Gary SouthShore RailCats, U.S. Steel Yard, was constructed in 2002, along with contiguous commercial space and minor residential development.
Miller Beach, also known simply as Miller, is on Gary's far northeast side. Settled in the 1850s and incorporated as an independent town in 1907, Miller was annexed by the city of Gary in 1918. Miller developed around the old stagecoach stop and train station known by the 1850s as Miller's Junction or Miller's Station. Miller Beach is racially and economically diverse. It attracts investor interest due to the many year-round and summer homes within walking distance of Marquette Park and Lake Michigan. Prices for lakefront property are affordable compared to those in Illinois suburban communities. Lake Street provides shopping and dining options for Miller Beach visitors and residents. East Edge, a development of 28 upscale condominium, townhome, and single-family homes, began construction in 2007 at the eastern edge of Miller Beach along County Line Road, one block south of Lake Michigan.