Gary, Indiana Union Station Abandon Train Depot

The Union Station building on Broadway just north of 4th Street in downtown Gary, Indiana has been abandoned for decades and still sits today, crumbling between the railroad tracks and the Indiana Tollroad. This once beautiful building loaded and unloaded passengers headed to and from Chicago and east towards New York City. The ornate structure is seen in detail in the photo below.

Gary, Indiana was once the center of economic development in Northwest Indiana as U.S. Steel began to grow and expand along the lakefront in the early part of the 20th century. Today, the population of Gary has dwindled down to only about a quarter of what it was only fifty years ago (approx. 80,000 residents). There is very little economy and the population continues to plummet. However, there is a glimmer of hope in Gary’s eye.

Recently, a new administration has taken over in Gary. Newly elected Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson is dedicated to doing something about the large number of abandon buildings that are crumbling throughout the City of Gary. One can only hope that something can be done to save some of Gary’s historical buildings, such as the Union Station building, which has a stone facade that is largely intact. While the restoration cost would likely be considerable, Gary needs a foundation to start on and a rich history to remember.

Gary, Indiana continues to be a dream for Northwest Indiana photographers and for many other photographers as well! Gary has been used in recent years in several films, including scenes for Friday the 13th that were filmed at an abandon church nearby in downtown Gary.

---

Licensing and Copyright Information

Printing this photo for public use or display without prior written consent is strictly prohibited. For information about the use and licensing of this photo, please refer to the Creative Commons license and copyright disclosure in the paragraph below. Newspapers, magazines and all other publications wishing to publish this photo can refer to my licensing terms and agreement or can contact me directly for any requests and inquiries not covered in my licensing terms.

Gary, Indiana Union Station by Joey B. Lax-Salinas is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://www.joeyblsphotography.com.