A Public Boathouse in Gary, Indian

In 1906 the United States Steel Corporation founded the city of Gary, Indiana. They built the city rapidly on the southernmost shores of Lake Michigan. The previously unsettled land along the shore consisted of rivers, swamps, dunes, and lakes. This land was quickly modified and organized for mechanized production. Editorial coverage of the new city ranged from dreams of a new industrial utopia to fears of deeply misplaced optimism in American industry. Planners for the city programmatically segregated housing and industry. The rapid development led to architectural experiments in materials to house the working class. Along the lake, the city's architecture regurgitated by-products of the steel making process. The waste material extended the shoreline but failed to provide for a population living in the soot of the steel mills with recreational access to Lake Michigan.