STEEL CITY CHRONOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT
1906
March 12 -- Survey for U.S. Steel Corp. started
March 20 -- Construction begins on Gary Works
April 18 -- Survey for town of Gary starts
June 9 -- Population of 334
July 13 -- First post office opens
July 17 -- Gary incorporates as a town
July 28 -- First election conducted
July 30 -- First meeting of town board trustees held
1907
June 17 -- Official seal for city presented to board of trustees by Judge Elbert H. Gary
June 18 -- Construction of Jefferson school begins
June 23 -- Pennsylvania R.R. recognizes Gary in time tables
July 1 -- William A. Wirt becomes superintendent of schools
July 6 -- Street railway system given franchise
July 20 -- Sixteen lots fronting 7th Ave., between Polk and Tyler Sts., purchased by Rev Jansen for church and school building
August 11 -- Construction begins on first Gary Hotel
September 3 -- Construction starts on Gary Trust & Savings Bank building
December 3 -- Population of 10,000 reached (estimated)
December __ -- Clark Station annexed to Gary
Decenber 13 -- Services held in first church building in Gary
1908
July 23 -- First ore boat arrives at Gary Works harbor
December 14 -- Gary Fire Department organized
1909
February 3 -- First steel produced at Gary Works
August __ -- Petition presented for incorporation of Gary as a city
Construction of first city hall begins
November __ -- Glen Park annexed
November 2 -- Gary made city of fifth class
November 3 -- First city hall completed and occupied
1910
Construction of first unit of American Sheet & Tin Plate Co. begins
August 31 -- Tolleston annexed
November 7 -- Gary becomes city of the fourth class.
U.S. Census sets population at 16, 802
1911
American Bridge Co. turns out first structural steel
American Sheet & Tin Plate begins operations
1912
Y.M.C.A. building dedicated
Library building constructed
1915
Tin Mills placed in operation
January 4 -- Gary becomes city of the second class
1916
May __ -- First Post Office building completed
1918
December 22 -- Miller annexed
1922
Construction of National Tube begins
1924
Construction of Gary Gateway begins
1925
National Tube produced first pipe
1928
City Hall unit of Gary Gateway completed
1938
February 21 -- New U.S. Post Office opens. That building is now an abandoned shell, going to ruin.
1949
FROM: International Herald Tribune (iht.com)
1949:Vice Benefits : IN OUR PAGES:60 YEARS AGO
GARY — Prostitutes are not eligible for unemployment compensation in Indiana, but gamblers are.
The manager of the Indiana Unemployment Compensation Bureau said several persons who admitted they are gamblers and prostitutes have filed applications for unemployment benefits as an aftermath of Gary's week-long war on crime and vice. The manager said gamblers will be paid $20 weekly for twenty weeks unless they go back to work sooner.
The prostitutes are ineligible, he said, because they are classified as independent contractors.
2006
Gary marks its 100th birthday. Celebration is muted, as city is a shadow of what it was when it turned 50.
2008
Forgotten
America: The Other Side of Capitalism
By Kofi Bofah, Chicago, Onyx Investments
[24 Oct 2008]
Michael and Janet Jackson rarely return, nor do they readily acknowledge any connection to Gary; hometown of The Jackson Five. The dismissal of the “Steel City” by its first megastar family, although loathsome, serves as an indicator of the complete wreckage that permeates this Northwest Indiana population center.
Downtown Gary has emerged as a decrepit commercial area - featuring artists’ renderings of businesses, rather than actual living and breathing people and commercial establishments. Broadway, Gary's main drag, is a collection of shuttered buildings, gun shops, payday loan operatives, liquor stores, and fast-food restaurants.
© 2008, G. David Yaros. All rights reserved.
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