Landmarks as Catalysts

Preservation advocates know it takes a whole community to save meaningful places. A growing number of Gary residents, organizations, and City staff have begun to build momentum for historic preservation in the Magic City’s downtown.

To bring attention to Gary’s downtown architectural gems, the city’s redevelopment staff turned to the community for support and launched its biggest initiative of the year – downtown historic preservation tours that attracted large crowds to explore buildings including the Gary State Bank, City Hall, the former U.S. Post Office, and the Gary Land Company Building. With help from the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority’s new CreatINg Places initiative, the City crowdsourced over $9,000 to create a tour brochure, host two days of walking tours and an open house, and construct safe viewing areas in vacant buildings.

In preparation for the tour, the Decay Devils, a local nonprofit dedicated to connecting people with Gary’s historic architecture, led the clean-up of Union Station—a former 10 Most Endangered entry—to make it accessible to the public. The Decay Devils are nominating the building to the National Register of Historic Places with a matching grant from Indiana Landmarks’ Partners in Preservation program.

Gary Union Station

In June, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded the City $160,000 to help transform the remains of City Methodist Church into a ruin garden. The project will allow safe enjoyment of the ruin, a popular site among urban explorers, and provide an event space unlike anything in the country.

In September, dozens of volunteers converged on the Gary Heat, Light & Water Building—another former entry on our 10 Most Endangered list–to clear away brush, pick-up trash, and secure the building with painted poetry boards. The City of Gary, The Heat Light Water Project, the Calumet Artist Residency’s Gary Poetry Project, and the Steel City Academy collaborated on the cleanup. A grant from Indiana Landmarks’ Efroymson Family Endangered Places fund helped pay for a study to examine redevelopment options for the building.