This thing is insane. what a beautiful piece of architecture. the history she holds must be quite the story

Posted by FLAMINN This thing is insane. what a beautiful piece of architecture. the history she holds must be quite the story

Probably the same as every other abandoned house of worship.

The decline is a story of a collapse of the middle-class in Gary. The primary employer in Gary was US Steel. When the steel crisis hit in 1972-73, US Steel made substantial cuts to the Gary plant and membership in the church began to decline.

By 1975, at the height of the steel crisis in 1975, the church membership was so small, it could no longer continue to operate. The property was sold to Indiana University(IU), who used it as a satellite campus. Presumably to retrain steel mill workers for other careers.

IU didn't do any upkeep on the property and it steadily fell into disrepair. The church has been abandoned since about 1995, but hasn't had any upkeep or maintenance since the congregation folded in 1975. There was a fire in 1997.

This is stunning. Seriously, I can't stop scrolling back through these pictures. Do you have any history you could share on this location? I'm in the south so it's not familiar to me.

Posted by volkmared This is stunning. Seriously, I can't stop scrolling back through these pictures. Do you have any history you could share on this location? I'm in the south so it's not familiar to me.

Good ol' City Meth, there's certainly a lot of history to unpack here. I guess to start, it's one of the most heavily explored locations in the Midwest, and possibly the entire country. There's also a graffiti memorial on one of the upper floors to a longtime member of the Midwest exploring community who died in the mid 2000's (I think), though I'm not sure if it's still there or if it got covered by taggers in the years since.

Wikipedia has a pretty interesting page about the church. Just to add some minor details the page neglects, the church cost $800,000 to build in 1925. Adjusting to inflation that translates to $12 million dollars today. Additionally, while the city did have a short lived photography permit program where you could pay $50 for legal access to several buildings including the church, that program was discontinued several years ago and now the church is wide open. Lastly, the redevelopment plan the Wikipedia page lists may have been approved by the Gary City Council in 2014, but nothing tangible has actually been done at the church. As of my visit last winter, it was still completely abandoned.

Seriously, if you can get there, do it.

Bring your kids.


I can legitimately say I saw Jimi Hendrix play at Woodstock because my elder cousins thought I should have the bragging rights. Although I remember almost none of it.

Posted by Freaktography Hey thanks guys! I am using a Sigma 18-35 1.8 Art lens, I got rid of all my other lenses and use that one exclusively now. It's not as wide as my last sigma (10-20) but it's a much MUCH better quality lens! And it weighs as much as my other older 3 lenses combined LOL Stupidly, I didn't go into the basement and I wanted to climb the steeple but my gut told me not to, and I always listen to my gut!!

Those art lenses are super sharp. Eventually I’d really like the 14-24 2.8 art. That seems like a killer lens.

I've always loved the "UR MOM" graffiti on that balcony. There's a matching "UR DAD" on the other side which pairs nicely