Elements of Urbanism: Gary, Indiana

[Metro Jacksonville]

Elements of Urbanism: Gary, Indiana



Metro Jacksonville visits a downtown of a community that has suffered from the economic fallout of building its economy around a single industry: Gary, Indiana.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-jul-elements-of-urbanism-gary-indiana

[fsujax]

wow. what a sad story.

[gomias]

It is sad.  I was born in Gary, 1957.  I remember going to the movies there and shopping for school clothes at Sears.  We lived in a small town to the east of Gary, and Gary was the place for shopping and entertainment.  Loved the architecture of the buildings.  We moved to Jax in the earlier 70's and Gary was already well on its way to decay.

[Jason]

That doesn't look like an American city at all....   really sad.

I dig the new urbanist housing though (layout, not so much the architecture).  We could use more of that around here.

[gomias]

Just sent to me from someone who used to live in Gary:

I was in southern Indiana visiting relatives when I saw a bumper sticker on a parked car that read "I miss Gary, In. -  my hometown", So I broke the window, took the radio, stole all four tires and left a note that said, “I hope this helps”

[Wacca Pilatka]

There's a fascinating article on a website called Lost Indiana that goes into great depth about the Genesis Center/Sheraton Gary urban renewal project.

[mtraininjax]

Aren't the Musical Jackson's from Gary Indiana? Could the city and family fortunes or luck, be tied together?

I think George Carlin could have inserted Gary, IN in his punchline of "Kiss her where it smells, take her to Gary, IN (New Jersey).

Loved seeing the sky on fire during the 70s as we drove to Wisconsin from Indianoplace (then).

Was #765 the Nickel Plate Steamer? Where are the pictures of the old Steel Mills? I am sure they are still standing and rusting.

[thelakelander]

Kind of hard to get to them but here is a picture of the US Steel plant from the toll road.



Also, here's a picture of the South Shore interurban line headed to Gary from the toll road.

[John P]

No photograph of michael jacksons house?

[peestandingup]

That doesn't look like an American city at all....   really sad.

I dig the new urbanist housing though (layout, not so much the architecture).  We could use more of that around here.

There's plenty of cities that look like Gary (or have entire areas that resemble it) in post-industrial America. Detroit being a big one, Bridgeport CT, Flint MI, Camden NJ, big chunks of Oakland, Baltimore, St Louis, Cleveland, Philly, even Chicago. Plus a bunch of other smaller towns where steel or some other manufacturing base built them up (look up a tiny town called Cairo IL if you wanna see something sad). Even Jax has the warehouse districts in Springfield & other parts that are forgotten (that I'm sure we're all aware of here).

Unfortunately that's what happens when profits are put over people/towns & jobs get shipped overseas to take advantage of slave wages & lax regulations.

[Tamara-B]

No photograph of michael jacksons house?

Lol I was thinking the same thing

[thelakelander]

Nope. I was on my way to Chicago and, on impluse, got off the highway while passing the downtown Gary exit. I spent about 15 minutes driving around before getting back on the highway.

[thelakelander]

If you want to see what Gary looks and feels like locally, check out Brooklyn or A Philip Randolph on the Eastside.

[vicupstate]

No photograph of michael jacksons house?

Lol I was thinking the same thing

Aren't the Musical Jackson's from Gary Indiana? Could the city and family fortunes or luck, be tied together?

yes, 2300 Jackson Street to be exact.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1g0fnQO0gQ

[lewyn]

Makes Jax look good.