Stories Behind the Nation's Historic Buildings & Structures
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many workers including those in the steel industry faced unsafe working conditions, long hours, and low wages. Unions were organized to address these issues but they were hardly successful in improving workers’ conditions. The situation improved briefly during World War I as companies were concerned with strikes
Lovell Amison was born in 1912 to Pearlene and Willie Amison in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He came to Gary, Indiana at an early age and it was there he met Zelda Laverne Perkins. The two married in 1953 and had one daughter together, Sheryl Denyce Amison along with his stepson, Charles Banks, and two stepdaughters, Laverne
Garnett Elementary School, although small and modest, is widely known as the elementary school Michael Jackson first attended at the age of six with some of his siblings, located just two blocks away from his childhood home. It was at Garnett Elementary that Michael sang “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” with his mother, father, and grandfather in
The Gary Memorial Auditorium is an abandoned civic center in Gary, Indiana, constructed to commemorate residents of the city of Gary that were killed fighting in World War I. Commissioned by the Gary Land Company, a subsidiary of the U.S. Steel Company, the building was designed by local architect Joseph Henry Wildermuth who had previously
Following the success of Gary School Superintendent William Wirt’s new Work-Play-Study system of education at Emerson High School, Wirt drew up plans for the establishment of four schools over the next two decades. Froebel, Roosevelt, Lew Wallace, and Horace Mann were planned to be similar to Emerson, all three stories tall and constructed in the
Bearing the name of transcendentalist writer, lecturer, and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson School was Gary’s first high school and was also the first public school in the city to implement Gary School Superintendent William Wirt’s new Work-Study-Play system of education. Wirt developed a “Whole Child” philosophy while assuming the post of school superintendent in
The former H. Gordon and Sons Department Store is an abandoned four-story brick building located in downtown Gary, Indiana. The building was originally constructed for the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks to serve as a lodge. In 1923, architecture firm George W. Maher & Son was commissioned to design a new temple of the
The former United States Post Office located in downtown Gary, Indiana was constructed in 1936 as part of the New Deal, a series of programs, public works projects, financial reforms, and regulations established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to respond to needs for relief, reform, and recovery from the Great Depression. The new post office
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Although it’s referred to as the Mahencia Apartments by the city of Gary, the four-story Mahencha Apartments was constructed in 1928 right across from Horace Mann High School. Built with red brick and stone trimmings, the U-shaped apartment building featured a courtyard in the rear and was designed in a combination of architectural styles, most
Since the city of Gary’s founding in 1906, there has always been a Methodist church within the city. In 1916, Dr. William Seaman became its pastor, a man with a dream of a new church to serve the burgeoning city. He wanted a religious presence in the neighborhood which was dotted with numerous brothels and