Tuesday was my first day of my summer internship. I work for the Cook Country government in Chicago IL, at the Honorable Mayor Richard J. Daley Center ("That's where they got that Picasso").
I woke up early and drove 20 minutes to the Gary Metro Train Station to catch a 7:30am train. I have heard that Gary was once a beautiful place. My grandfather told me you could, at one time, get there by bus from all over Northwest Indiana. These routes no longer exist, and if you have ever been to Gary, you also have seen why.
Gary was founded in 1906 by the United States Steel Corp. as a home for its new plant. Gary's fortunes will forever be intertwined with the plant. In the 40's after the war, many people were looking for jobs, and they flooded into Gary, with the majority being African American. Then, in the 50's U.S. Steel saw enormous profits, and Gary transformed into a modern town complete with a teaming downtown area. Unfortunately U.S. Steel and therefore Gary have not experienced a growth like that since then, and have rather been in a decline for 40 years
Gary, Indiana 1909.
Today when you drive down Broadway, most of what you see are boarded up houses, shops, theaters, and restaurants. The skeletons have begun to merge with the still active buildings, making it hard to determine weather or not the building is vacated or not. They now look like those old plastic primary colored play houses that would sit in people's yards for a minimum of two years, and as a result will be terribly dirty and to get to shine again would take a lot of work.
Present day 5th and Broadway Gary, Indiana.
The change was caused by the fail of the Industrial Revolution. Once America entered the 60's jobs at U.S. Steel were cut, and a lot of middle class families moved to surrounding areas to find jobs. Gary quickly became part of the urban demise notorious for this time.
There are two parts of Gary as I understand the city. The part on the beach of Lake Michigan is filled with expensive beach properties. While the area further south is where the decay hit the hardest.
I have friends from both parts of the city. My white friends live on the beach and my black friends live in the ghetto. Oddly there are no feelings of inequality, or resentment, but rather just an unspoken banal understanding that this is the way it is. If you talk to anyone my age from NWI who has been to Gary and they will tell you that it is not that bad. I have never been fearful while driving through, or walking for that matter. I have never met an unfriendly person, or someone who threatened me. Despite this sentiment with the younger generation, it is almost opposite with the old.
My parents have never liked the idea of leaving my car in Gary all day at the train station; as if its a given fact that cars parked in Gary will be broken into, but I still take my car everyday and it it is always there when I get back just as I left it. Maybe, if the bus route still existed they wouldn't have to worry.
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