The famous and influential Gary, Indiana Steel industry

With a high rise in demands comes great struggles and trials in a city quite like Gary

Introduction

Gary Indiana has one of the largest steel mills in the United States. It was founded by United States steel as the site of the company's massive steelworks. With its rapidly growing industry, it allowed hundreds of jobs to be given. But it did not stay that way, overseas competition and restructuring of the industry led to a population loss of 55% since its peak in the 1960s. Much of the city lies abandoned and it faces huge social problems such as poverty and ghettoization. It is estimated that a third of all properties in the city are unoccupied. During my Indiana history trail, I will be going through the battles and uphills through Gary Indiana.


Gary Works

Gary works was the first new plant named after Elbert Henry Gary, who was the founding chairman of the United States steel corporation. Gary was the site of civil unrest in the steel strike of 1919. During this strike the loss of workers had the buissness in shambles causing owners to act quickly. Elbert Henry had over 3000 African Americans from the South of Gary to pick up the jobs from the strike workers. Through this corporation, they were able to help with the immediate housing needs of the construction workers and laborers. 65 million dollars were directed towards townsite and plant construction. At this site, there are Sheet products, strip mill plates in coils, and tin products. Hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized sheet products are produced for customers in the automotive, metal building components, home construction, and appliance markets.


Republic Steel 7


Olympic Steels Third Temper Mill

Gary indiana has had its highs and lows, and I'm ready to explore those reasons and what led up to them. I want to look at one of the largest steel plans in the country. Therefore this will be one of my sites due to the high facility. I definitely feel like that is a big deal given the fact that Gary is another small city in Indiana. Gray has worked as an annual raw steelmaking capability of 7.5 million net tons. Some of the services for the steel company consist of Hot rolled and P&O carbon coil, carbon sheet, carbon strip mill plate, alloy plate, coil sheet, armor, ultra high strength, and stainless steel. Steel does have some effects on the environment like climate change, fossil fuel depletion, and recycled content. I get to research and dig into more about how this could affect the economy and the community of Gary Indiana. As you look back in time you can see Gary going from a beautiful place to a hated and crime affiliated city. About 1906 is when they began the industrial awaking for Gary.


Alliance Steel LLC

When doing research about Gary Indiana you will always find out about their steel industry and the importance that it has had for years. Alliance steel has supplied coil processing for over 20 years. Unfortunately, this headquarter has moved to a new location but the work that has been done will not be forgotten. This is a full-service steel distribution and process company that relies on supplying quality flat-rolled steel to the agricultural industry. The steel mills when first started attracting foreign-born immigrants and African Americans. Gary started working fast for the plan they had and was determined to have a great steel plant industry. With over 16,000 workers they fastly became one of the largest steel companies in the country. With this information, I am gathering I can answer some of my questions in my research like how this affected society after World War II. This factory was not evolved at that time but you got to see how women started to take over and produced and ran some of these factories to get where they are today. With this steel industry in Gary, it was easy for them to start surpassing foreign companies and technology advancements. Altogether this site is really helpful to see how far and what to come for the steel plants. 


Source Citations

Transmitidentity. (2021, April 12). Gary, Indiana Olympic Steel. Olympic Steel. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://olysteel.com/locations/gary-indiana/

Steel, A. (n.d.). Cold Rolled Steel & Steel Sheet for Agriculture. Cold Rolled Steel & Steel Sheet for Agriculture | Alliance Steel. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.alliancesteel.net/agriculture/