Is Gary, Indiana Really That Bad (Indianapolis, Hammond: high crime, homes, neighborhood)

[noland123]

Is Gary that bad of a place ? I heard it was a very industrial area but that doesn't necessarily make it that bad.

[billman5000]

Part of that county (Lake) is very nice. Gary is horrendous, similar to the high crime parts of Indianapolis. Look up statistics on homicides, for example.

[willow]

Up until recent years it held rank for awhile as "Murder Capital of the U.S.". It's pretty bad. There are pockets and areas that are not so bad, of course, but there are many areas you do not want to drive through, even in daytime. When DH and I were dating we had gone to the beach and heading back home to western Lake County, IN (Gary is in eastern Lake Co.) we had to detour off the interstate for an accident. Detour took us through "downtown" Gary, main streets. Smack in broad daylight on a sunny summer afternoon stood a guy on a street corner who pulled a handgun out of his pocket and motioned with it (as one would do when talking with their hands). The few people on the corner near him didn't even blink. Scared the bejeebers out of me. Very high crime, known for political corruption, sadly gang infested. Most of the north end of Gary is industrial (heavy industry, the giants of steel mills sprawl on the L Michigan shoreline that in decades past employed generations of local families). Thanks to Mital Steel purchases lately, many are coming to life again and are not the abandoned-looking metal cities they were in the 80's>90's. Pockets of very far west end of Gary has an almost rural feel to it, as does the very far south end (known as Calumet Twp.). Many residents have southern roots, having come here to work for the steel mills one to three generations back. Up through the 60's I've heard downtown Gary was the place to shop the large department stores. Not true today, they are long gone. DH has told me there are some stately old mansions in some parts of Gary (I have an interest in architecture and love to see old homes) but he will not take me to see them, the area is too dangerous. West central Gary is home to a large I.U. campus which recently announced plans to expand. Also along the L Michigan shoreline (to the east of the mills) are some beautiful old homes situated on L Michigan.

But Gary is only a portion of Lake County, which is quite varied, from blue collar to white collar to upper level executive to farmers with expansive land. To the NW along the lake is Whiting, a quiet, qaint little blue collar town on the lake. Hammond is south of that, some parts bad, some parts not. A city. Central part of the county is standard suburban life. Munster (central west, on the IL border) has one of the best school systems in the state. Go further south to Crown Point (county seat, John Dillinger made it famous for breaking out of the jail), nice little town (although new residential construction is booming). And further south yet you will find vast farms. Not as many as there used to be due to development, but they are still there.

If you're coming to the area, there are better/safer/just as affordable places to stay than Gary.

[Angelala]

I live in Indiana and I would never go there.

[CTownNative]

A city with less than 100,000 people having 60 or more homicides sounds pretty bad to me.Its like Compton to Chicago except worse.

[Zig'sbird]

A few years ago I used to survey for one of the largest firms in Indy. As such, we traveled a good bit. One thing that I would always do would be to buy a newspaper in the city that we were working in just to see what was going on and also to get a feel for the city.

I kid you not on this one....

In the newspaper from Gary, there was an article saying how one gang felt like it was being discriminated against. The quote that I remember the most went along these lines "When we kill a member from another gang, we get first degree murder, but when they kill one of us, they only get manslaughter"

In the same newspaper there was also an article about some 6th grade students at a private Catholic school beating one of the Nuns.

[the_hungry_wanderer]

Originally Posted by willow

Pockets of very far west end of Gary has an almost rural feel to it, as does the very far south end (known as Calumet Twp.).

Question. Is Calumet a seperate city from Gary or just a neighborhood of Gary?

[artemis]

Calumet Township is one of many townships that make up Lake County. Gary is in Calumet Township. Griffith is also in Calumet Township.

For instance, Merrillville is in Ross Twshp. Crown Point is in Center Township. Cedar Lake is divided, part in Center Township, part in Hanover Township. East Chicago, Hammond, Munster, Highland and Whiting are in North
Township. Schererville, Dyer & Saint John are in Saint John Township.

Calumet City, Illinois is right across the State line from Hammond, IN.

[artemis]

Willow, those stately mansions your DH was talking about is in the Horace Mann neighborhood, which is the near West side of Gary. (near to downtown) And yes, they were gorgeous. Frank Lloyd Wright built two homes in that area.

[SSSS]

Does anybody know anything about Crown Point, IN? And is Gary, IN that bad? We are looking to maybe relocated and the job is in Gary, IN. Any advice?