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, located in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area. Gary is located approximately 25 miles from downtown Chicago, Illinois.

The population of Gary proper was 80,294 at the time of the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state of Indiana. Gary's population has fallen by over 50 percent since the 1950s, when Gary's population was almost 200,000.

Gary is located adjacent to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and borders Lake Michigan. Many citizens and politicians have helped to preserve parts of the Indiana Dunes. The city is known for its large steel mills, and for being the birthplace of the The Jackson 5 music group.

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).