Gary

Gary was named after lawyer Elbert Henry Gary, who was the founding chairman of the United States Steel Corporation. U.S. Steel had established the city in 1906 as a company town to serve its steel mills. Since the 1970s, Gary and other Rust Belt cities have lost a high number of people as the steel industry has gone through restructuring and manufacturing jobs moved out of the United States. As a result of this economic shift, the city's population has declined 61% since the 1960 census.

Although initially a very diverse city, Gary currently has one of the United States's highest percentages of African Americans. Between 1970 and 2010, Gary had the nation's highest Black population per capita. The city has a legacy of African-American cultural and historical accomplishments.