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Indiana and the New Century
In the twentieth century, urbanization and an increasingly industrial economy encouraged new immigration to Indiana, especially from eastern Europe and from the southern United States. This was a time of technological wonder as the "horseless carriage" - the automobile - replaced horse and buggy. Roads throughout the state had to be rebuilt to accommodate this new way of travel. Inter-urban railways (electrically operated railway cars traveling from city to city especially in northern Indiana) flourished early in the century, and cities grew at a rapid rate. Railroads were also transforming the state, hauling raw materials -as well as people - to the new foundries and factories.
In
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northern
Indiana, there was an urgent need for new, skilled laborers to work
in the growing steel industry. In 1906, the town of Gary was laid
out at the southern end of Lake Michigan along with United States
Steel Corporation's huge new manufacturing complex. The site was
chosen because it lay on navigable water midway between the iron
ore mines to the northwest and the coal mines to the south; it was
also near the limestone quarries of Michigan. Although Gary has
had several different kinds of industry, it has basically centered
on steel manufacturing. Many of the workers were originally recruited
from outside the state. Gary and neighboring East Chicago attracted
immigrants from Serbia, Poland, Greece, and Yugoslavia, among other
countries. Employers such as Inland Steel also recruited large numbers
of Mexican settlers into the region. Work was plentiful at the mills
but it was hazardous. As with many jobs assigned to recent immigrants,
wages were low and workers were paid irregularly. Unskilled laborers
could expect to earn little more than $1.00 a day, while the most
skilled earned up to $4.50 a day. Steelworkers in Gary even as late
as 1910 were earning little more than 17 cents per hour. Some employers
required twelve hour shifts (sometimes even longer) and seven day
weeks when the workload was heavy; many were then laid off when
the work slowed. For a more complete history of the dynamic steel
industry in the Calumet region, click on 
