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Hi - I’m Jeff. I am a lawyer licensed to practice law in Indiana. Our attorneys fight every day for the rights of sexual abuse victims. My team and I are ready to help.
The sexual abuse lawyers of East Chicago presents to you this article. We hope residents and visitors enjoy learning about the history of the city.
East Chicago is a city within Lake County, Indiana. The area was originally swampland that was unsuitable for farming. However, after 1851, Indiana began selling plots of land there to railroads and speculators to fund the local school system. As settlement in the area grew very slowly, it wasn't until the 1890s that the city had proper streets and public utilities. In 1893, the City of East Chicago was incorporated. Its population skyrocketed in 1903 with the arrival of the Inland Steel Corporation.
As the most industrialized city in the U.S., more than 80% of East Chicago's land was zoned for heavy industry. By 1907, a navigable waterway link to Lake Michigan and the Grand Calumet River, the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal, was constructed. During World War I, the city was nicknamed the "Arsenal of America" and the Workshop of America." Later on, a rivalry developed between Indiana Harber – the "East Side" of the city where the Inland Steel and most of the working-class families were located – and the "West Side" where the residential part of the native-born business community was located. The moniker "Twin City" came to be as a way to describe the residential, spatial and class division of East Chicago.
The rough industrial city was plagued by ethnic and racial tensions, illegal gambling and clubs, prostitution, organized crimes, political corruption and extreme pollution. In the 1960s, the population of East Chicago went into a decline as white flight, suburbanization, the construction of highways and the affordability of automobiles allowed workers to commute to the city from less-polluted suburbs. However, it wasn't until the steel crisis of the 1974 to 1986 period that the city became completely devastated.
In 2016, the designated USS Lead Superfund Site with three zones of public housing and residential properties was discovered to contain toxic lead and arsenic contamination. Affecting over 270 families, Governor Eric Holcomb has declared a disaster emergency in East Chicago. As of the 2019 estimate, the city has a population of 27,817 people.
You can also Learn All About Highland, Indiana.
Marktown is an urban planned worker community of East Chicago. Built in 1917 during the Progressive Era, it was for workers at The Mark Manufacturing Company. The 40-acre community was established by the U.S. pioneer maker of steel Clayton Mark and designed by renowned architect Howard Van Doren Shaw. However, only 10% of the original community design was built because of the sale of the Mark Manufacturing Company and the aftereffects of World War I. Still an important cultural resource of architectural and historical significance, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on February 20, 1975, as the Markdown Historic District.
ArcelorMittal's Indiana Harbor Works is made up of the former Inland Steel's East mill and Youngstown Steel and Tube's West mill. Absorbed by ArcelorMittal in 2006 during the merger of Arcelor with Indian-owned Mittal Steel, Indiana Harbor Works is the largest steel mill in the nation.
Are you in need of an East Chicago sexual abuse attorney? Our network of Abuse Guardians in the city can assist you with any legal concerns you might have about assault. We will help victims and survivors get the justice they deserve. Call our office today for more information.
