Growth and Conflict in Gary, Indiana, 1906 to 1930

9 Locations | Curated by Gary Public Library

The United States Steel Corporation acquired land at the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan in 1905 for the purposes of building a steel mill. The area that would become Gary was historically occupied by the Miami and Potawatomi peoples, who had long used the Indiana dunes, just east of the future site of Gary, for hunting, plant gathering, and ceremonial activities. The 1821 Treaty of Chicago forced Native tribes to cede their land in Michigan and northern Indiana to the United States. The monumental task of building the mills, a town, and then homes for thousands of workers began after US Steel acquired the land. By 1908 nearly five to six thousand people, mostly laborers for US Steel, called Gary, Indiana, home. Gary was named after lawyer Elbert Henry Gary, who was the founding chairman of the US Steel Corporation. With the founding of the company town, US Steel transformed sandy swamp lands with an abundance of flora and fauna into a place that city promoters would call the “City of the Century.” Gary experienced rapid industrialization and vast immigration in the years since its founding.

In this tour, we will explore Gary’s industrial history, the conflicts between management and workers that culminated in the 1919 strike, race relations (including a little known school strike), as well as the city’s built environment and its influence on the people who lived here.

Unlike other well-known centers of industry, such as Pittsburgh or Detroit, where the cities significantly predated the beginning of industrial development in those areas, Gary’s history as a city begins with US Steel. In the early twentieth century, US Steel Corporation needed a plant in the…
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US Steel needed laborers to build its steel mill and the city of Gary. A subsidiary of the steel mills, the Gary Land Company was tasked with constructing the town as well as housing for its workers. The Gary Land Company hired engineers such as A.P. Melton, who at that time, was working at the…
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The Gary Land Company’s First Subdivision covered the area from just south of the Steel Mill Entrance south to the Wabash tracks (9th Avenue), and from Tennessee Street west to Fillmore Street. In the First Subdivision, restrictions and controls provided a consistent, clean, and orderly appearance.…
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On September 22, 1919, workers employed by the US Steel Corporation laid down their tools and abandoned their jobs in the steel factories. Stretching from Chicago and St. Louis to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the strikers would ultimately include 350,000 workers at factories across the Midwest…
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School strikes by students for any reason are rare in the history of the United States. Gary is unique in that it has had two school strikes, both motivated by white racism, in its history. Gary had one of the highest percentages of Black residents of any Northern city during this time, with Black…
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Memorial Auditorium, located in Gary’s downtown, was built in 1927 and for 43 years, it served as the city’s only convention and social center, gymnasium, art gallery, music, and performing arts center. The Auditorium represents Gary’s building boom, when many of the city's most impressive…
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Listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), the West 5th Avenue  Apartments Historic District is located west of Broadway and includes over 11 blocks of  approximately 40 brick apartment structures, most standing at least four stories high. The 5th Avenue apartments were built from…
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