Gary is the largest city in Lake County, Indiana, USA.
Gary is located in the southern part of the Chicago area, and is about 25 miles from downtown Chicago, so that the two cities, with their sprawling areas, seem to be one city when traveling through them on Interstate 80.
As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 102,746 and is the largest Indiana city that is not a county seat. It borders Lake Michigan and is known for its large steel mills.
The shoreline and city scape of Gary Indiana
The city was founded in 1906 by the United States Steel Corporation as the home for its new plant. Gary was named after the chairman of U. S. Steel, Elbert H. Gary.
Among U. S. cities with a population of 100,000 or more, Gary has the highest percentage of African-American residents (as of the 2000 U. S. census).
Gary had one of the nation’s first African-American mayors, Richard G. Hatcher, and hosted the ground-breaking 1972 National Black Political Convention. At the same time, Gary suffered from many affluent and middle-class residents leaving Gary and relocating to the surrounding towns and cities.
The city sits on 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 high quality that in years past it was mined for the manufacture of glass.
Nearby Lake Michigan features some beautiful sand dunes
Gary is more or less “T” shaped, with its northern border on Lake Michigan, one of the United States’s five “Great Lakes.”
As such, Gary has in the surrounding area, many wonderful outdoor opportunities for wildlife viewing, boating, fishing, hunting and photography
January 22, 2008
I’ve been here. It has a few nice things to visit and look at but the air pollution made me not too interested in seeing more.