From Apartment Buildings To Post Offices, Explore Abandoned Buildings Galore In Gary, Indiana
By Tori Jane|Updated on September 22, 2023(Originally published May 14, 2023)
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Tori Jane
Author
Tori Jane is a storm chaser, writer, photographer, and the village idiot - in that order. When she's not out and about dancing with the meanest storms on planet Earth for funsies she can be found wandering, shooting landscapes, writing, editing photos, and otherwise up to no good. Legend has it that she can also be occasionally spotted typing up short bios in the third person, but those rumors are unsubstantiated.
There’s just something so fascinating about places that once were. There’s something about wandering the halls of an abandoned place in Indiana and imagining the days in which the place was once alive that has strange but beautiful magic to it. The Hoosier State is no stranger to interesting abandoned places, and there’s one town that gets a lot of flak it doesn’t necessarily deserve. Gary, Indiana, is a mostly abandoned little place that tops almost anywhere else when it comes to urban exploration. Although Gary is still inhabited, it’s home to so many abandoned structures that it still has an eerie ghost town feel about it. With more than 13,000 abandoned buildings and structures, Gary is among the most abandoned places in Indiana – if not the world.
Once upon a time, Gary was a bustling town with a booming economy - but the good times didn't last.
Today, it's not quite "abandoned" - folks still call it home, and efforts have been underway to try and revamp the area - but 1/3 of the town is effectively deserted.
Most people speak of Gary as if it's something of a dirty secret. Hoosiers aren't proud of it, but perhaps they should be - albeit for totally different reasons than, say, an excellent tourist economy. But there's beauty and value to be had in an abandoned space and the way it develops into a new use.
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For the artists, the photographers, and the wanderers, Gary is a kind of mecca; it's a sacred holy grail in the Midwest for urban explorers and those with roaming hearts.
Urban exploration is the art of combing through long-forgotten buildings and taking photos, taking videos, or simply taking it all in. It's an entire subculture of people who find beauty in urban decay - and trust us, there's most certainly an enchanting beauty to the decay of Gary, Indiana. Walking through these structures and seeing the vibrant graffiti and public art in them is like exploring a brand new kind of urban museum.
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You'd be amazed at the buildings you can find, and what some of them contain.
There's an old school with furniture and books and desks still scattered about (pictured above is the library of the abandoned Gary Elementary School). There's a stunning apartment complex (or two... or ten) whose walls once held families and lively residents but are now quietly decomposing, taken over once more by nature and the occasional graffiti artist. In some cases it feels like time has stopped completely in these spaces, like the whole population just up and left one day and this is what remains.
We don't recommend entering any of the buildings; urban exploration can be risky, even dangerous, if you're new to it (or if you make a simple miscalculation in terms of, say, if a rotting floor can hold your weight).
Luckily for those who prefer to admire from afar, there's plenty of that to be done in Gary, too. Every old building seems to ask you to come closer so it can whisper in your ear, and they're intriguing from the outside in. Luckily, we have all these stunning images from brave and well trained urban explorers to give us a sense of what lays inside these buildings.
Pictured below is the old Ambassador Apartment complex, which was built in the 1920s and abandoned entirely by the mid-1980s.
It's strange to think that every one of these places was once a living, breathing part of a town - a town that, slowly but steadily, is becoming more and more extinct year by year.
One thing is for sure, though: despite the poor reputation Gary has earned over the years for varied (and valid) reasons, those who appreciate the beautiful sense of longing that comes with exploring abandoned places will find plenty to appreciate about it.
And hopefully, as the town begins to be revitalized, some of the beautiful elements of these buildings (like the graffiti and public artwork) are maintained.
What are your favorite abandoned places in Indiana? Tell us about them and you might see them featured someday! And remember: at OnlyInYourState, we encourage exploration, but we don’t recommend entering old, dilapidated buildings where an injury is very possible should something go wrong (and it easily could – remember that many of these buildings haven’t been kept up in decades), nor do we endorse trespassing of any kind.
It’s best to admire these places – and the other 13,000 places throughout Gary, Indiana – from afar… like in this video c/o Art We There Yet on YouTube:
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More to Explore
Gary, Indiana
CC|January 31, 2023
Where are there abandoned places in Indiana?
If you were inspired by abandoned Gary, consider checking out these other beautiful abandoned places in IN. There’s so much beauty and interest to be found in ghost towns in IN.
Bush Stadium – Indianapolis
Muscatatuck State Developmental Center – Butlerville
