Gary
Gary names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Gary a city of Indiana
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of Indiana, in Lake It is on the Indiana, Baltimore, co. and Ohio, the Chicago, Indiana and Southern, the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern, and other railroads. The city is at the head of Lake Michigan and lies half way between the great iron ore beds of the north and the coal regions of the south. Its advantageous situation in regard to coal and iron led to the selection of the site for the main plant of the United States Steel Corporation, in April, 1906. The city has become the greatest steel producing city in the world. It contains plants of the American Bridge Works, the Indiana Steel Company, tin-plate works, locomotive works, coke by-product works, etc. It has a public library, a handsome city hall, a hospital, and several public parks. Pop. (1910) 16,802; (1920) 55,378.
Gary ELBERT HENRY, an American lawyer and capitalist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ELBERT HENRY, an American lawyer and capitalist, born near Wheaton, Ill. He was educated in the public schools and Wheaton College, and at the University of Chicago. After studying law at the latter institution, he He was admitted to the bar in 1867. was engaged in the general practice of law in Chicago for 25 years, but retired from law practice to become president of the Federal Steel Co. He was prominently identified with the organization organization of the United States Steel Corporation, of which he became chairman of the board of directors and chairman of the finance committee. He was president of the American Iron and Steel Institute and, in 1893-1894, was president of the Chicago Bar Association.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote in 1921 Gary was booming — 55,378 people, up from 16,802 in 1910 — and "the greatest steel producing city in the world." It kept growing to about 178,000 residents by 1960, then collapsed with the American steel industry: the 2020 census counted roughly 69,000, and whole blocks of the city stand abandoned. U.S. Steel's Gary Works still operates and remains the largest steel mill in the United States by capacity, but it employs a few thousand people rather than the tens of thousands of its peak. Elbert Gary, whom the second entry describes as still chairman, died in 1927; the city's other claim to fame now is Michael Jackson, born there in 1958.
Written for this edition, 2026.