Place:Gary, Lake, Indiana, United States

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States, and borders Porter County to the east. Historically, Gary was dominated by major industrial activity. The city is located along the southern shore of Lake Michigan about east of downtown Chicago, Illinois. Gary is adjacent to the Indiana Dunes National Park, and within the Chicago metropolitan area.

Gary was named after lawyer Elbert Henry Gary, who was the founding chairman of the United States Steel Corporation. The city is known for its large steel mills and as the birthplace of the Jackson family.Although initially a very diverse city, after white flight in the 1970s, the city of Gary held the nation's highest percentage of African Americans for several decades.

Per the 2020 census, the population was 69,093. Once a prosperous steel town, it has suffered drastic population loss due to overseas competition and restructuring of the industry, falling by 61 percent from its peak of 178,320 in 1960.

History

For a general history, see Gary, Indiana at Wikipedia, from which some of the following was extracted.

The city was founded in 1906 by the United States Steel Corporation as the home for its new plant. The city was named after the chairman of U.S. Steel, Elbert H. Gary.

Research Tips

• List of parishes (current and closed).
• Gary city directories from the 1950s are available both at Gary Public Library (easily accessible by train or car) and at Lake County Public Library in Merrillville (easily accessible by car).
• The Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society is prodigiously active, and among their activities is transcribing and proofreading marriage books.
• If you have an exact marriage date, try microfilms of the Gary Post-Tribune (at Lake County Public Library and others).

Image Gallery

Baccalaureate-1951, Portage H/S			8th Grade Commencement, 1951