Gary
Tuesday, 24th January 2006 by James Turnbull
Submitter Dee reckons that Gary, Indiana is home to the largest factory on Earth, I can't verify the fact but I can say that this is one really, really big steel mill (you can scroll around for AGES).
Gary was founded by a Steel Manufacturer and its sportsteams all have steel in the name (Steelheads, Steelcats, etc.). Gary is also the birthplace of Michael and the rest of the Jackson family, whose father worked as a crane operator in the steel mill.
Thanks: Dee
I rode through Gary, IN with a cycling team, and the city provided us with a police escort becasue it was worried about our safety since they apparently have so much crime (rumor has it that the city was at one point the per capita murder capital of the US). I think this was a bit overkill (pun intended) since the town looked somewhat “normal” for Middle America, and I would have felt safe without the police protection. Here is its Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary%2C_IN.
I drove through Gary, and it is rough. Despite still having that massive factory, the domestic steel industry isn’t what it was in was, and unemployment is rife, with all the undesirable effects that has on a community.
On our through route, it was nothing but dive bars, strip joints, “adult bookstores” and abandoned buildings.
I’m horrible.
yeah the steel mill is big but the largest factory (largest building period) is where boeing builds 747s in everett, WA. coords:
US Steel was also the location used for the attack on Tokyo in the 2001 movie Pearl Harbor.
“While scouting locations for the film, the producers found that the modern city that most resembled 1942 Tokyo was Gary, Indiana. A photography team photographed that city from the air and integrated the resulting footage into the film. For that reason, during the film’s depiction of the Doolittle bombing raid on Tokyo, the planes are actually bombing Gary, Indiana.”
taken from IMDB.com’s trivia page for Pearl Harbor
View Placemark – largest refinery in the world… Baytown, TX
Well i live here in Gary Indiana, and as for the first comment not sure if the rumours are true about it being the murder cap? Well its not rumours buddy its a known fact google search about it. And if that dont convince you, come live here by 5th ave. where i live theres a shooting on the corner on a daily basis if not more then 1 time a day. I personally have been shot, stabbed, robbed, jumped, beat and put in the hospital for up to 2 months!! This is not a town you want to visit live or even pass through especially at night. There are however sections of gary that is safe to visit and pass through but downtown gary, and everything by the steel mills i would stay far away from if i were you. There is nothing but poverty gangs and violence here unfortuanely nothing will be done about this cause no one gives a shit about all the black people, racist bastards!!
I’ve been through Gary on two separate occasions, and it is pretty bad. I live in Lake County, IN so I’m not too far away. Although, I’m not sure if I was more fearful in the day time with all the watching eyes on me as I passed through the city or at 2 am at night when I couldn’t see anyone at all for miles. It was quite eerie and I helped a homeless women I ran into while there by giving her money in exchange for directions. The whole place is very dangerous, I’m not kidding. I never want to get lost in Gary again.
Ok First of all the team is not the “SteelCats” it is the Gary SouthShore RailCats.
Second I have lived in Gary my entire life, downtown Gary to be exact, crime has dramatically decreased throughout my life time I used to see People get shot dailly and drug busts constantly but as it is I have not seen one for years. There is much less of this as it is moving to the subburbs. I plain and simple must deny what is being said for Gary is more bark than bite. Gary has very bad stigma because of it’s past but as is it is people like this that keep Gary from changing you have to let things change not declare that they are terrible. I have walked from MLK dr to broadway 5th ave to 25th the fact of the matter is, is that Gary is not so much a city of crime and death but a city that is Dead. Nobody wants to let it change no matter how hard Mayors have tried.
There are NEW Sports Teams, NEW Schools, NEW Houses, NEW Basketball Courts, NEW Streets, NEW Businesses. Beautiful Parks, Amazing Beaches, Multiple Swimming Pools, Well Kept Libraries
Multiple plans have been made but everybody says they will fail so they are never tried
People just constantly say that Gary will never work and therefore it won’t
I love my city and I hope that one day people will realize that the stigma is no more than a false reputation.
You do not see Gangs walking the streets you see kids playing, You do not see people shooting people you see people mowing lawns and washing cars and having cookouts.
Gary is more normal than people can see because everybody keeps new people from coming by telling them that Gary is terrible.
I won’t leave this “Magic City of Steel”
Gary is Beautiful and one day maybe people will let change happen
I am 20 in downtown Gary.
In regards to the statement that Gary is home to the largest factory that is ownly partially true. Gary is home to United States Steel’s largest plant which is the largest Steel Mill in the Northern Hemisphere.
other plusses are
The Gary SouthShore RailCats baseball team were the Northern League Champions of 2005
The Gary Steelheads were the 2005 CBA eastern conference champions. (a steelhead is an actual type of fish it is not just a mixture of words)
The largest Bennigans in the US is also in Gary.
two Nobel prize winners came from Gary
one of the first astronauts is from Gary
Gary is much more than the Jacksons who turned their backs on their hometown
So why do we keep claiming them I say we don’t want them and we sure as heck do not need them we are just grasping at straws and I think it is pathetic
and Gary has black , hispanic, and white people all living fine and safe no less safe than anyother big city, and safer than most now
Gary’s police force is Huge now and has a New station
Gary/Chicago International Airport is listed as the third airport of Chicago and no it does not have any current airlines but if you would actually look before you speek you would realize that Gary airport is being overhauled with nearly 50 million dollars of fedrally granted money. SO airlines would have problems running on runways under construction. When Gary had airlines they were sell out flights, just check the records. THe airlines only left because they were having problems as a whole not in Gary.
Just learn your knowledge about Gary from somewhere more than a blog or forum, better yet take a look for yourself
Yes there is much abandonment and spoils but that is because people gave up on a town that was still ready to come back to life
I just hope and pray that somebody will realize that Gary can work I live here and I know that people care.
I was being recruited by US Steel as an engineer, and they brought me on a plant trip to Gary. Needless to say, it definitely is the roughest LOOKING place I have ever been, however I don’t know how much of the scare is hype. It is definitely not a lovely place though either as some of the biased Gary locals have implied. There are a lot of drugs, crime and run down buildings. Hopefully one day Gary will resurrect itself into a nice community.
If anybody wants to know the scoop on Gary Indiana here it is. I grew up in Gary born and raise in the Glen Park area which is suppose to be better than the lower end yeah right. Even though crime rate has dropped Gary is one of the most f**ked up places to be. Anybody that thinks Gary is a great place to live, visit, or raise kids probably cannot adapt to being out of their familiar surroundings, never been out of Gary for a extended period of time in their adult life, or likes the idea of making 20+ bucks an hour in the Steel Mill. Would somebody please tell these underacheivers that this is the Technological Era not the Industrial Revolution.
If you don’t believe me, why don’t you take a trip down any back street after dark and ask one of the many law abiding citizens for directions.
HELLO MY NAME IS LETICIA ALVAREZ I LIVED IN GARY INDIANA FOR A WHILE BUT THE I MOVED SOMEWHERE ELSE….WHEN I LIVED THERE I DID NOT REALLY ENJOY IT. THERE WERE MANY SHOOTINGS AND I COULDNT EVEN GET TO PLAY OUTSIDE WHEN I WAS SMALL…I WAS SCARED TO …..MY FANILY STILL LIVES DONW THERE AND WE VISIT ONCE IN A WHILE….BUT I DONT LIKE GOING BACK …I DON SEE GANGS SOMETIMES AT NIGHT JUST DOING DRIVEBYS…THERE ARE SOME PARTS OF GARY THAT ARE NOT A PLESENT SITE…AND SOME PARTS THAT ARE COMPLETLY NORMAL…IT IS A GOOD AND BAD TOWN BUT I LOVE IT!!!
I was born and raised in Gary and wouldn’t trade that experience for the world. I was there when it was listed as the Murder Capital. Sure there was crime but I didn’t notice it being any more rampant than what I see and hear about on the news about Chicago or NY or Atlanta etc! I still visit from time to time and am never scared to go back home. Yes, it is sad to drive though downtown and see all of the places that I used to shop as a child closed down and boarded up. I think that’s why Gary looks so menacing and scary because of all of the old boarded up buildings, but the people there are as good as gold! I don’t know, maybe its easy for me to feel this way because I don’t live there anymore but I have nothing in my heart but love for Gary, Indiana.
Actually, I live in Gary, Indiana to this day(Jan.21, 2007) and I am thirteen years old I think some of u people are really over reacting bcuz when u are in Gary, u DON’T always see crime or gangs nor prostitutes. Gary is not a bad place and I know these people are talking about about downtwon Gary and on Broadyway but I live in GP(Glen Park) and to me I love Gary just the way it is. It does have SOME crime and gang,gang violence, homicides, etc. but come on now what other city/state doesn’t have crime? Everywhere u go there is crime no matter how clean ya city s or how nice the people are if u have good police,….we have good police. These people are exagerrating when they say oh it was horrible oh we had to be escorted into/through Gary cuz its oh so dangerous, plus if u don’t leave here dont try to judge Gary. If u don’t live here u dont…DONT have nothing to say about it. If u gone come here, then come here if not, stay in ya resident!
I only enquire about the “adult bookstores”. Can any of you who live in Gary tell me where I can find such an establishment?
I was born at Mercy Hospital (1976), I spent my summers walking (about 8 blocks) from my house on 6th and Fillmore, down Broadway to the Boys club. Yes, I heard about crime but I did not grow up in a house were alcohol or drugs were used. I grew up with family, and Sunday dinners, and the memories of a coveted 45 record that contained the lyrics to the “Superbowl Shuffle.”
In my house eductation and integrity was non-negotiable, my family, like most blacks, migrated from the south to work in the productive steel mills. Beginning with my dad, whom drove a limo for Mayor Hatcher, after being fed up with working for the man.
Honestly, as a kid, you knew about the crime and trouble, but we were to busy having fun and learning to navigate a world new to us (from a child’s perspective).
Sure my house was broken into several times, and it’s something you never get used to however, my love for Gary was never diminished.
I dodged fights, utilized gunshots at gleason park as a sign to go home, and heard about friends going to jail, or dying, yet, I never blamed it on the city of Gary.
I love my hometown and it really depends on you!
If you want to live on the side of the tracks-selling dope, running with gangs…Gary will bring it to your ass, but at the same time, I am who I am because of the people of Gary. Teachers: Ms. Cooperwood, Ms. Montgomery, Ms. Ford, Ms. Leadbetter, Ms. Robinson-Preachers: Rev. Lowery, The Preacher man, aka the Pizza man, my PoPs-Neighbors: The Ballards, The Browns, The Adamsons, The Veals, etc.
Gary is the Polish Sausage stand in front of Beckman; Screamin Wheels, In-Effect, Gleason Park in 92, Miller Beach, Lincolns, The Village, God’s Fantastique Fish N’ Chips-by Lew Wallce, Football O’ Rama, The Holiday Tournament at Westside, The Drill Team Competition, The Sweet heart ball, The Kudos Ball and Xinos, Rays Shrimp House, Champs Liqour’s (my elementary P.E. teacher), Playboys barber shop, The Lark, The Career Center, Miller Beach, Glenn Robinson, Jesse Powell, and the Jackson 5…
I too was born and raised in Gary in 1954. In 1966 there was a parade downtown celebrating Gary as “The City of the Century”. That was probably the high point of my experience in Gary. There were so many wonderful things in that town; the Gary Music Theater, a great library, the Palace Theater, Buffington Park, and more. But as I grew up things started to go bad. Gangs became emboldened. Crime rates skyrocketed. I left in 1972 to go to IU. When I ran out of money my father offered to get me a job at the mill. I thanked him and said I would rather join the Army. So I did. My last visit to Gary was in 1984 for my baby sister’s wedding. As I drove into Gary and was going south on Broadway I stopped at a light at 15th Ave. There, “plying her trade”, was one of my classmates from Horace Mann High School. It was then I realized, as Edgar Lee Masters had written, “That once having left you can never return.” I wish Gary nothing but good fortune and success but for me there is absolutely no desire to return.
All I can say is this: I AGREE WITH “MJHankel” 1000%. I have lived in Gary all my 40 something years, & YES I AM WHITE TOO, And I have never had a problem walking through downtown Gary at any hour of the day,Night, Or anytime. It’s the idiots that pass through Gary, Then run here to post some ignorant ass comment because they drove down Broadway & seen vacant buildings, So they come here & talk trash on this page. Funny thing is that most that are talking trash are from some ignorant country town like Portage. DUH, Country folk (And known racists)….Stay the hell out & stay in “PO-Tage”.
“Susan” is a GREAT EXAMPLE OF IGNORANCE. BET SHE IS FROM “PO-TAGE” no doubt.
Gary, Indiana—-WOW Gary is what yall made it. I grew up in CONCORD, a neighborhood on the west side. We handled things as they presented themselves and that was the way of the streets. if you created strife, it came. The love for neighborhoods and families was tremendous. Due to the lack of city officials to offer options for the youth, we only had the streets and each other. There was a time when the future didn’t matter, and i visit regularly, and those times haven’t changed. The youth in Gary are crying out for help and Mayor Clay is as phony as they come. Fuck talking– do something!! The only concern they leaders have is if there are enough room in the jails to house the youth. Pray For Gary and its residents.
I was born in Gary in 1957 and lived there until 1965. My parents were born and raised there, and they and their siblings all settled, sometimes literally across the street from each other, in the 1950s.
Our house was on Montgomery Street, a straight line direct to the beach, about a mile or two away. I have very few memories of going downtown as a kid, but I certainly remember that Gary was a very bustling town back then. HUGE movie theatres and old-style shopping establishments.
I remember only after leaving there did I find out that not everybody lived in such an idyllic situation as the predominantly white neighborhood where I lived. We would go back to visit and I’d hear my cousins talk about how the whole city was going down the tubes, etc. But oddly, most of them stayed there anyway. My Grandparents both died in Gary; my dad’s older brother inherited their house and kept it until health issues forced him to sell it. While I’m sure Gary can be scary I’m sure there are still parts of the neighborhood where I lived where you’d probably not realize that anything was wrong. Hopefully that city can turn itself around again.
Typo–3700 block of washington street
I hail form the “Steel City” and am proud of it! While I am no longer there, I do still have relatives in the area. It saddens me to see how low Gary has sunk; far lower than Gilroy Stadium. I seriously doubt if a turnaround is possible, but one can always hope.
For a trip though the Gary that was, check out my web site (Dave’s Den). It has a ton of info on the development, history, politics, economics, melting pot aspect and of course the mills. The web site url is
Dave’s Den
Eh, for anybody to make Gary out to be all good or all bad is just not really accurate. Gary’s more “dead” than it is dangerous at this point. Yes, if you’re a drug dealer or gang-banger, you might get shot. If you’re in an abusive relationship, you might get shot, but as an average person who grew up in Miller and hung out in Marshalltown, 5th Ave, Cleveland St, and went to Emerson, it’s just whatever you make of it.
To MJHankel, and others brave enough to “stand up and be counted” when it comes to Gary, I say BRAVO! I also encourage you to read my open letter to Mayor Rudy Clay on my web site, and comment. Better yet, let Rudy know what you think, too!
The letter may be found at The Rudy Report. You will also find tons of info on the “Steel City” on the site.