Category Archives: history

This is Gary

Posted on June 28, 2022 by Michelle McGill-Vargas

Read how one Gary native is using her influence and resources to revitalize Gary, Indiana in a massive vision called This is Gary, Continue reading →

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Gary, Indiana Preservation Tour

Posted on July 17, 2017 by Michelle McGill-Vargas

I’ve always been interested in the history of my hometown. Even as a lifelong resident, I enjoy hearing the juicy factoids about the city’s past, and still feel the stories would make an historical tour not only possible, but interesting. … Continue reading →

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Is Historical Tourism in Northwest Indiana Possible?

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Michelle McGill-Vargas

In researching my work-in-progress– an historical tale about Prohibition in Gary, Indiana– I came across the Rum Runners Tour in Windsor, Ontario. The tour probed the area’s connection to the Prohibition Era in the United States. On the tour, we drove … Continue reading →

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Steel Mills and Tommy Guns: Gary, Indiana and the Prohibition Era

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Michelle McGill-Vargas

Gary, Indiana doesn’t quickly come to mind when one thinks of the Prohibition Era in the Midwest. Chicago, Al Capone and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre are more obvious choices. I’ve heard stories that Gary’s close proximity to Chicago gave those … Continue reading →

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The Integration Situation: The 1927 Emerson School Boycott

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Michelle McGill-Vargas

As a special education teacher, I said I would never write a story about teaching or schools. But in researching the history of my hometown of Gary, Indiana, I discovered rich–and sometimes infamous–stories about not only the city itself, but … Continue reading →

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Striving After Wind: A Prequel, Part I

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Michelle McGill-Vargas

This is the prequel to my unpublished historical fiction manuscript, Striving After Wind, which previously appeared at Short Fiction Break. October 1860 Helen Brandt lay on her straw mattress listening to the autumn rainstorm roll across the northern Kentucky countryside. A growl … Continue reading →

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St. John’s Lutheran Church: Gary, Indiana’s Oldest Congregation

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Michelle McGill-Vargas

Thoughts of Gary, Indiana often include ones of the steel mill, the Jackson 5 and hope that the city can bring back the glory days current and former citizens remember. But there is one bit of history that stands out among the usual images … Continue reading →

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Digging Through History: Gary, Indiana’s Tolleston Cemetery

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Michelle McGill-Vargas

At about 17th Avenue and Grant Street in the Tolleston neighborhood of Gary, Indiana lies a forgotten cemetery. Numerous trees and flowering shrubs obscure the few remaining headstones inscribed in German, English and an occasional Cyrillic script. This is Waldheim Cemetery, sometimes called Tolleston Cemetery after … Continue reading →

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Northwest Indiana and the War on the Little Calumet River

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Michelle McGill-Vargas

Image from “The 20-year War Along the Little Calumet”, The Gary Post-Tribune, November 13, 1955 In my previous post, I stated that Gary, Indiana was my inspiration for some of my written works. My unpublished manuscript, Striving After Wind, tells the … Continue reading →

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