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Description: Abandoned Railroad Station
Location: East side of Broadway, between I-90 and the entrance gate to US Steel, Gary, Indiana
Condition: Only steel reinforced concrete shell remains
Photographed: May, 2001
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Locations of photos.
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As the railroads were laid across the midwest, Chicago and Detroit were key centers of commerce and manufacturing. Nearly every
railroad ran lines to the great cities - and many of those lines were run around the south shores of Lake Michigan. In 1906, the enterprising chairman of United States Steel, Judge Elbert H. Gary, noticed this, as well
as the easy access to the lake for additional transport options. He purchased 12,000 acres and built a $100,000 plant to produce steel. Since most of the land around the plant was undeveloped - and
he needed workers for his plant - he and US Steel planned a city just outside the gates of the mill. Gary, Indiana was born.
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 The front of the station, looking East.
A freight train rolls past on the north tracks.
(Click for larger photo)
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To support the thousands of workers moving in from around the country, the city immediately needed a new passenger
and freight rail station. Architect M. A. Lang designed a two-level station to be built between the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) rail line and the South Shore & Michigan Southern line (part of the New
York Central System). He borrowed the neoclassical design popularized by the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago 15 years earlier and created a simple, yet elegant station befitting the city growing around it.
The station was constructed using a technique called steel-reinforced poured concrete - supported by the steel
companies as a way to sell additional steel. The method was revolutionary at the time, but today nearly every public building and skyscraper uses precisely
the same construction technique. This is probably why the building still stands today, as it has actually gone unused for half a decade - since the highways
that eclipsed the need for passenger terminals were built in the 1950s.
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This postcard shows the station during its prime.
Note the cobblestone
road that runs up the hill past the freight terminal - wagons holding goods would use this road (still there) to bring packages to the upper level terminal for shipment by rail.
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The entrance to the building faces west toward Broadway. The rail lines that it once supported are raised - which means
the station is actually hidden until you are almost right next to it. Not a single window is still intact - all have been smashed out decades ago. 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 outside of the building is in astonishingly good condition for a building that has gone unused for 50 years - a testament to the quality of
construction. There are no barriers to the front drive nor to an old red brick road that runs up the hill along the south side of the building. The
building is along side the rail line that runs along its north edge, and is separated by that red brick road from the line that runs along its south side.
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 The massive main hall, looking from the front doorway. The glass skylights are gone, as are all of the windows and doors.
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Once inside, there is a large, open room that vaults two stories to the roof. The roof is constructed of much less sturdy material - the
steel supports are rusted away and parts have collapsed to the floor. There is a staircase at the rear of the room that leads up to the rear loading platform - this staircase, also of steel,
is completely unsafe to climb. The building itself is built into a hill, so while the front is two stories high, the rear exits only on the second story. Very little exists inside that
would lead you to guess this was a railroad station - no signs, no counters, nothing but some rotting debris. There are also no real rooms in the building - everything is open into this
central area. There is evidence of a fire in the northeast corner of the building that continued up through the second level - there is some ash and black scorched concrete on the walls and
ceiling. However, since the walls 100% concrete and steel, this fire had little effect except to weaken the 2nd story platform. According to several historical reports, the building was used
as an auto parts salvage operation for a time, but no evidence of this exists.
There is a doorway on the south side of the building that leads across the
cobblestone road to a concrete staircase built into the actual south track support structure itself. The north door actually tunnels under the north
tracks to a staircase that leads up to a platform on the opposite side of the north tracks from the station itself. Thus, if one wanted to board a train on
the south tracks, you would cross a road and climb a staircase to reach it. To board a train on the north side tracks, you would walk through a tunnel under
those tracks and up a staircase to emerge on the other side. Period pictures show an ornate metal awning that covered the south-side walk and staircase to the platform.
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 The North wall of the main hall, with the door to the tunnel leading under the north-side tracks.
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 The South side of the building with the doorway and walk that leads to the south-side tracks. The express
freight building is visible in the distance, as well as the remains of the red brick road.
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 The East end of the main building. The overgrown upper platform is on the left, and the express freight building behind the photographer.
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 Looking inside the main building from the East portals. There is fire damage here to the wood framing and floor - not safe to walk on.
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The West end of the express freight building. The platform that joins it with the main terminal is on the right.
The loading docks on the North end of the express freight building. It is possible that a spur line was once here, as the ground is littered with track ballast.
The inside of the express freight building.
