Filmed on Thursday, July 6 2023, I drive around the amazing city of Gary, Indiana to see what's going on. Gary is one of the finest examples in America of urban decay caused by industrial decline.
A once prosperous city based on the U.S. Steel industry and other manufacturing, the city's population has decreased drastically, having lost 61% of its population since 1960.
Gary was named after lawyer Elbert Henry Gary, who was the founding chairman of the United States Steel Corporation. U.S. Steel had established the city in 1906 as a company town to serve its steel mills.
Gary was the site of civil unrest in the steel strike of 1919. On October 4, 1919, a riot broke out on Broadway, the main north-south street through downtown Gary, between steel workers and strike breakers brought in from outside. Three days later, Indiana governor James P. Goodrich declared martial law. Shortly thereafter, over 4,000 federal troops arrived to restore order.
The jobs offered by the steel industry provided Gary with very rapid growth within the first 26 years of its founding.
According to the 1920 United States Census, 29.7% of Gary's population at the time was classified as foreign-born, with another 30.8% classified as native-born with at least one foreign-born parent.
By the 1930 United States Census, Gary's population exceeded 100,000.
Gary's fortunes have risen and fallen with those of the steel industry. The growth of the steel industry brought prosperity to the community. In the 1960s, like many other American urban centers reliant on one particular industry, Gary entered a spiral of decline.
Gary's decline was brought on by the growing overseas competitiveness in the steel industry, which had caused U.S. Steel to lay off many workers from the Gary area. The U.S. Steel Gary Works employed over 30,000 in 1970, and today in 2023, the mill employs 2,256 people.
In May 2021, a $300 million Hard Rock Casino location opened in the city. Branded as Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, the location includes memorabilia from local natives Jackson 5 and a 1,950-seat Hard Rock Live performance hall.
Gary is hometown to the Jackson family, who raised Michael Jackson and his 8 siblings at the two-bedroom house on 2300 Jackson Street in Gary. I drove past this house in a separate video, which you can watch here: • Driving Past Michael J...
As of the census of 2020, there were 69,093 people residing in the city.
The racial makeup of the city was 79.11% Black or African American, 9.23% White, 0.16% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.58% from other races, and 3.19% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 7.56% of the population.
The median household income was $34,085 and the per capita income was $19,520. 32% of the population was living below the poverty line.
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