Gary, the Most American of All American Cities

Download or read book Gary, the Most American of All American Cities written by S. Paul O'Hara and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-06 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: U.S. Steel created Gary, Indiana. The new steel plant and town built on the site in 1906 were at once a triumph of industrial capitalism and a bold experiment in urban planning. Gary became the canvas onto which the American public projected its hopes and fears about modern, industrial society. In its prime, Gary was known as "the magic city," "steel's greatest achievement," and "an industrial utopia"; later it would be called "the very model of urban decay." S. Paul O'Hara traces this stark reversal of fortune and reveals America's changing expectations. He delivers a riveting account of the boom or bust mentality of American industrialism from the turn of the 20th century to the present day.