gary-indiana-ghost-town Urban exploration: Gary, Indiana, ghost town

Gary, Indiana, ghost town

Type	Country	Exploration Date	Publication Date	Location	Status	Rating
Public building	USA	2006-08-12	2006-09-19		Endangered	****

No Future City?

Another 2006 exploration. to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the city of Gary, Indiana. The city was artificially founded by the United States Steel Corporation in 1906, on the shore of Lake Michigan. Just to to meet the region's needs for the flourishing steel industry. The city reached up to 200,000 inhabitants.

The White flee from Gary (white flight), unemployment and insecurity set up. The city gets more and more empty, encounters major economic problems, and reaches the highest rate of crime of USA. Today, the beautiful huge buildings are demolished one by one, leaving behind large empty spaces.

More info about Gary? Just check the Wikipedia article.

-> Gallery of Photos: a walk in Gary <-

Gary, Indiana, ghost town

-> Gallery of Photos: Gary's Methodist church <-

Gary, Indiana, ghost town

-> Gallery of Photos: School & Theater <-

Gary, Indiana, ghost town

-> Gallery of Photos: The Standard Liquors building <-

Gary, Indiana, ghost town

-> Gallery of Photos: Jackson Five theater <-

Gary, Indiana, ghost town

-> Gallery of Photos: The Post Office <-

Gary, Indiana, ghost town

Note: this page shows only some older, abandoned buildings downtown Gary. It does not show the effort done by the city to re-launch Gary in its 2nd century.

Seth Thomas aka dev null

I had the chance to do this exploration guided by Seth Thomas (aka dev null) in August 2006.

He was loving Urban Exploring in general, but Gary was for him more than just another exploration.

Since then, Seth passed away way too early, at the age of 24.

May this page be dedicated to him.

Wherever you are Seth, we are all sure you keep EXPLORING.

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Kimberly

I was born in Gary and I have to say that these pictures are almost exactly how it looked when I was little. Goldblatt's was still there and some other shops but they all closed the older I got. Before I left elementary school. It was pretty depressing and I had hoped that one day things would get better there. Never happened. I am 31 years old and things looked even more run down than when I moved away 10 years ago. I am glad that they have torn down some of those older buildings. I doubt anyone will put anything worthwhile in their place because it hasn't happened yet. 1 ballpark isn't going to help Gary. I don't know what will.

26th June 2004 3:06pm

aretta artis

what is happening to these buildings will they be preserved, or demolished. will gary ever come back are there plans

26th June 2004 9:33am

robert

deine Fotos sind dir sehr gut gelungen. vor allem von "Jackson Five Theater" und von "The dancing scool" schöne grüße, robert

26th June 2004 4:48am

Michael King

The description here is not completely fair in my opinion; much of Gary, outside the downtown core, is in somewhat better shape than this. Downtown Gary, much like other downtowns in similarly sized cities, has had major blight. Businesses have died; buildings abandoned. I'm certainly at the head of the line when it comes to mourning the classic architecture that has been lost to the ages as a result. I certainly have some memories of much of what is shown here back when they were more alive; I grew up in Gary, and still have relatives there. Certainly there are some revitalization efforts. Admittedly they have not overshadowed the blight of old structures like the City Methodist Church, Memorial Auditorium, the old Post Office, and the Palace Theater as shown above, and other structures not seen here, including Union Station and Horace Mann High School. At times, I wish I had the money to acquire one of those older structures, restore it and market it properly.

26th June 2004 1:17am

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