Union Station in Gary, Indiana

Gary, Indiana

Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...

 was built in 1910, just four years after the city was founded. The station is located between the elevated lines of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway

Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway

The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, NY to Chicago, primarily along the south shore of Lake Erie and across northern Indiana...

 and Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Built in a Beaux Arts style utilizing the new cast-in-place concrete methods in which, after pouring, the concrete was scored to resemble stone. The building was closed in the 1950s.

Indiana Landmarks has placed the building on its 10 Most Endangered Places in Indiana list.

Location

The building faces west on Broadway. Because it sits between two raised rail lines, it is invisible until one is next to it. The only sign still visible inside or outside the building is a painted notice on the front pillar that says “No Parking Cabs Only”. The method of construction has retained its integrity after 50 years of abandonment.

Interior

The main room is a two stories hall. At the east end of the hall is a staircase to the loading platform on the upper level. Built into a hill, the building is only a single story in the back. A door on the south side leads from a cobblestone driveway. Across the drive is a staircase built up to track level along the south side. On the north there is a tunnel under the tracks to a stairway up to the loading platform.

Popular culture

Union Station was used as an example for what could happen to a Chicago building in 30 years without humans providing maintenance and upkeep on Life After People: The Series (Season 1, Episode 2).

External links

• Longest, David E. (2007). Railroad Depots of Northern Indiana. Arcadia Publishing. (ISBN 0-7385-4131-1).