Gary is the largest city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is located in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is approximately 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population was 102,746 at the 2000 census, making it the fifth largest city in the state and the largest city statewide that was not a county seat. Gary was once the second largest city in Indiana, a position now relinquished to Fort Wayne. It borders Lake Michigan and is known for its large steel mills, high crime rate, and liberal political leaning, with one study rating it the second-most liberal city in the United States.

History

Among U.S. cities with a population of 100,000 or more, Gary has the highest percentage of African-American residents (as of the 2000 U.S. census). Gary had one of the nation's first African-American mayors, Richard G. Hatcher, and hosted the ground-breaking 1972 National Black Political Convention. At the same time, Gary suffered from many affluent and middle-class residents leaving Gary and relocating to the surrounding towns and cities. Because of the loss of jobs in the city, many people left the area altogether for regions with employment.

Gary's fortunes have risen and fallen with those of the steel industry. In the 1960s, like many other American urban centers, Gary entered a downward spiral of decline. Gary's decline was brought on by the growing competitiveness in the steel industry, which had caused U.S. Steel to layoff many workers from the Gary area. Crime increased, including use and trade in illegal drugs.

U.S. Steel continues to be a major steel producer, but with only a fraction of its former level of employment. While Gary has failed to re-establish a manufacturing base since its population peak, two casinos opened along the Gary lakeshore in the 1990s. Today, Gary faces numerous difficulties, including unemployment, major economic problems, and a high rate of crime, though the city has made some progress in addressing these issues since the 1990s.

Meredith Willson's 1957 Broadway musical The Music Man featured the song, Gary, Indiana, describing Gary Conservatory as the alleged alma mater of lead character Professor Harold Hill ("Gary Music Conservatory, Class of '05!"). The joke in Hill's claim, of course, is that the City of Gary wasn't founded until 1906. Wilson's musical, set in 1912, later was the basis of a theatrical film (1962) and a made-for-television film (2003).

Recent history

Three-term Democratic Mayor Scott King resigned from office in March, 2006, citing a desire to return to private law practice, and the financial rewards involved therein. Then-deputy mayor and former Calumet Township Trustee Dozier T. Allen Jr. became acting mayor, pending a formal election by local Democratic party officials. On April 4, 2006, local officials chose former Lake County Commissioner and King rival Rudolph Clay to fill the remaining 21 months of King's term.