How the City That Steel Built Was Left to Collapse the Moment the Steel Left: Gary, Indiana

In March of 1906, United States Steel planted survey stakes in a frozen sand dune on the shore of Lake Michigan and built an entire city from nothing. Gary, Indiana grew to 178,000 people and housed the largest integrated steel mill in the world before foreign competition and automation gutted the workforce after 1959, stripping the city of over 100,000 residents and leaving Broadway lined with barred-up storefronts. In 2025, Nippon Steel committed $3.1 billion to keep Gary Works running, but the same question that hung over this city on its first day still has no answer. Sources: Wikipedia, Gary, Indiana: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary,_I... Wikipedia, 1919 Steel Strike: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_S... Wikipedia, Richard G. Hatcher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard... Atlas Obscura, City Methodist Church: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/c... Abandoned America, City Methodist Church: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/city-...