Gary Union Station

Hi all-

This was a joint station operated by the LS&MS (NYC) and the B&O. Opened in 1910. Gary was founded in 1906 by U.S. Steel.

When did Gary Union Station close? All accounts say "the 1950s" but I've found nothing exact.

Also, does anyone know anything about architect M.A. Lang? Have found no additional references to him. Was he a railroad company employee, a draftsman enlisted as an architect perhaps?

Does anyone know who owns the station? I would assume that since the station is surrounded by B&O and NYC it is either CSX or NS property?

Thank you in advance for any leads, my research this morning has turned up nothing.

-otto-

Nothing at all on Gary Union Station?

It looks like it is owned by the City of Gary:
http://lakein.mygisonline.com/?pin=45-0 ... 01.000-004" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is a decent write up on the facility here:
http://lostindiana.net/2001/05/01/union-station-gary/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(But you probably already found those.)

I'm pretty sure it was closed way before Amtrak. PRR and CSS were the major players in Gary passenger traffic, and they had their own station. There is mention in a years-past issue of Classic Trains that the Capital Limited would stop in Gary on request (around 1968). Presumably they used the platform but not the station house.

The movie is also a setting for the movie "The Original Gangsters", about Gary gang problems.

Tadman wrote:I'm pretty sure it was closed way before Amtrak. PRR and CSS were the major players in Gary passenger traffic, and they had their own station. There is mention in a years-past issue of Classic Trains that the Capital Limited would stop in Gary on request (around 1968). Presumably they used the platform but not the station house.

The movie is also a setting for the movie "The Original Gangsters", about Gary gang problems.

Per the original (5/1/71) Amtrak timetable, the Broadway stopped at Gary, I assume at the PRR station that Tad mentions. I'll try to remember to look at my timetables tonight to see if any of the ex-NYC PC or B& O trains were still stopping there in the late '60's or 1970/71.

justalurker66 wrote: There is a decent write up on the facility here:
http://lostindiana.net/2001/05/01/union-station-gary/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(But you probably already found those.)

Every article I have found about Gary Union Station contains the same vague information. Opened in 1910 (we think). Designed by some unknown architect where I can't find any other references to his work. And "closed sometime in the 1950s." Any more detail about the closing would be appreciated. Thanks!

-otto-

It may be that there was no official closing date.

Speculation: The trains came less and less fequently. And when the very last train departed, there was no definite plan that there would never be another.

Passenger wrote:It may be that there was no official closing date.

Speculation: The trains came less and less fequently. And when the very last train departed, there was no definite plan that there would never be another.

No, stations do indeed have official closing dates. Trains only make stops that are published in the timetable. Even if Gary remained open as an unmanned station, there'd still be a date (a year, even) when the last train stopped there.

-otto-

The ravages of time ... some things get forgotten. From the few tea leaves we have it appears the architect may have worked for the mill. Last train 50-60 years ago ... I suppose someone could be alive that remembers it or had their father or grandfather tell them the story. But things get lost.

Hopefully someone can track it down ... just to fill in the gaps.

Well, this is interesting. Per the March 1971 OG, PC (trains on ex-NYC routes) and B&O still stopped at Gary (B&O only on request). In the PC tables, the station address is given as 257 Broadway. According to Wikipedia, the address for Union Station was 185 Broadway. Google Maps shows 257 as near the current NICTD station. Perhaps someone who knew the track layout in '71 can shed some light on this. The June 1965 OG lists "NYC Station" as the Gary stop for NYC trains. Guess it's off to the RR-issued timetables to see if I can find anything more.

My timetables do not provide any additional information. PC TT's from '69 to '71 list the Gary stop at 257 Broadway. My NYC TT's from the mid-50's through '68 say "NYC Station." My earliest NYC TT is from '39, and it says "Gary." My B&O and combined C&O/B&O TT's also just say Gary.

Gary Union Station was one of the Indiana stops included in Janet Potter's Great American Train Stations (John Wiley, 1996), but she only informs us that the station "has stood vacant for many years." Maybe one of the Morning Sun or Arcadia books might have some info.

Maybe at 257 Broadway you could access the tracks and platforms of Union Station, but not the station building. Also, I suppose it's possible that there was a renumbering of addresses at some point.

The reference in NYC timetables to "NYC Station" refers to the fact that up until 1957 or so, Michigan Central route trains left from IC Central Station in Chicago and utilized an all MC routing from Kensington through Gary and on to Indiana and Michigan points. About 1957 the MC route trains were shifted to LaSalle St. Station, Chicago and utilized the NYC route through Gary hence the NYC Station reference.

The tax record I linked above has the address as "251".

More detail:
http://in-lake-assessor.governmaxa.com/ ... 3D0C1C3ACC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PT N1/2 W1/2 NW1/4 S.3 T.36 R.8 LY'G BETWEEN RR'S & LY'G W. OF A LINE 470FT E. OF BROADWAY 0.76AC

The property was transferred to the city 09/15/1994.

The telephone pedestal at the curb (close to the PC tracks) is labeled "275 N KTOWN AVE".

With numbered cross-streets, you'd expect 257 to be between 2nd and 3rd Avenues yet Google Maps puts 257 south of 3rd Avenue (and some current Gary addresses seem to conform - e.g. 401 Broadway is at the SE corner of Broadway and 4th). Using that, 257 is about where Gary Union Station was. So either the 185 reported by Wikipedia is wrong or at some point, the city cleaned up the numbering and 185 became 257.
Bad street numbers do happen - our house (as well as our neighbors) is about a block east of where the number would put it and until the mapping sites finally caught up, they would show our house as a block west of where it really is.

This is indeed a tricky one.

I only found an article from the NWI Times website from 2002 discussing Gary Union Station and its unique construction.

http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/g ... 614b3.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;