City Methodist Church (closed) (Gary, Indiana)
USA /
Indiana /
Gary /
Gary, Indiana /
Washington Street, 577
World
/ USA
/ Indiana
/ Gary
World / United States / Indiana
ruins, abandoned / shut down, interesting place, 1926_construction
City Methodist Church, (empty for years) stands nine stories tall. The Church made unique use of commercial and office space, classrooms, meeting rooms, an auditorium and a large sanctuary. Storefronts were incorporated into the building. The building still stands, but is in desperate need of restoration. This church was badly damaged in the Great Gary Arson of 1997.
The church was built at a cost of more than $1 million by the Rev. William G. Seaman in 1926. United States Steel Corp. donated funds to complete the building. The church is in the traditional English Gothic style of architecture, like some of the buildings that the famed United States Military Academy at West Point and elsewhere throughout the United States. This was, and is, a remarkable building: besides the cathedral, there was a four story community center with classrooms, an auditorium, a motion picture booth, a banquet hall and kitchen, a fellowship garden, a large meeting hall, a gymnasium and a rooftop garden. The building was built to be not only at church, but a place for the entire community to gather.
Sadly, due to the shifting population of Northwest Indiana, the congregation of the church shrank drastically in the 1960s and could no longer afford the upkeep of the building. A committee held a meeting in October 1974 to determine the fate of the church. They decided to relocate and close the church as of January 3rd, 1975. The building was sold to Indiana University as a campus extension but nothing was done with it..
The building was used sporadically as church by another congregation, a local dance center and a halfway home for underprivileged children and single parents, but it eventually fell into abandonment and disuse. The building stands open to the elements and vandals.
Previously. the building was under the ownership of B&R Realty in Gary, listed to a Trades, Inc. but now may be owned by the city of Gary.
www.preserveindiana.com/pixpages/nw_ind/orrcitymeth.htm
www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/back...
The church was built at a cost of more than $1 million by the Rev. William G. Seaman in 1926. United States Steel Corp. donated funds to complete the building. The church is in the traditional English Gothic style of architecture, like some of the buildings that the famed United States Military Academy at West Point and elsewhere throughout the United States. This was, and is, a remarkable building: besides the cathedral, there was a four story community center with classrooms, an auditorium, a motion picture booth, a banquet hall and kitchen, a fellowship garden, a large meeting hall, a gymnasium and a rooftop garden. The building was built to be not only at church, but a place for the entire community to gather.
Sadly, due to the shifting population of Northwest Indiana, the congregation of the church shrank drastically in the 1960s and could no longer afford the upkeep of the building. A committee held a meeting in October 1974 to determine the fate of the church. They decided to relocate and close the church as of January 3rd, 1975. The building was sold to Indiana University as a campus extension but nothing was done with it..
The building was used sporadically as church by another congregation, a local dance center and a halfway home for underprivileged children and single parents, but it eventually fell into abandonment and disuse. The building stands open to the elements and vandals.
Previously. the building was under the ownership of B&R Realty in Gary, listed to a Trades, Inc. but now may be owned by the city of Gary.
www.preserveindiana.com/pixpages/nw_ind/orrcitymeth.htm
www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/back...
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Methodist_Church_(Gary,_Indiana)
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 41°36'2"N 87°20'17"W
- Marquette Park 6.1 km
- Meeting point of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan state boundaries 21 km
- Homewood Izaak Walton Park 27 km
- Former Site of the Union Stock Yards 37 km
- South fork of the south branch of the Chicago River 38 km
- Sun Aura Resort 51 km
- Fair Oaks Farms 59 km
- I.U.O.E. ASIP Local 150 (Training Center) 69 km
- Former Joliet Army Ammunition Plant Housing Complex 71 km
- Lake Greenfield 90 km
- Downtown West 0.8 km
- Emerson 1.1 km
- Lincoln Street Residential District 1.3 km
- Midtown 2.2 km
- Horace Mann 2.4 km
- U.S. Steel Gary Works 2.5 km
- Ambridge 2.9 km
- Pulaski 3.1 km
- Tolleston 3.6 km
- Lake County, Indiana 16 km
Comments