Union Station (Gary, Indiana)

Gary Union Station
Gary Union Station
General information
Architectural style	Neoclassical
Address	185 Broadway, Gary, Indiana
Coordinates	41°36′20.3″N 87°20′13.07″W / 41.605639°N 87.3369639°W
Design and construction
Architect	M. A. Lang

Union Station in Gary, Indiana 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 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.^[1] The building was closed in the 1950s.

Indiana Landmarks has placed the building on its 10 Most Endangered Places in Indiana list.^[2]

Location

The building faces west on Broadway. Because it sits between two raised rail lines, it is nearly 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.^[3]

Interior

Union Station in 2009

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.^[3]

Popular culture

Gary's 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).

Union Station was a filming location for the 1951 Alan Ladd movie Appointment with Danger.^[4] This shows off a unique feature of the building not clearly visible in most photographs; the eight bar radial star design in each section of window, similar to the design of the British Union Flag. The similarity is probably accidental. Union Station was also featured in the 1996 film Original Gangstas where it served as the hideout for the gang known as The Rebels.

References

1. Bearing website Archived August 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
2. Postcard Images of Gary Landmarks
3. Lost Indiana Archived July 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
4. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043292/locations

External links

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