Inloc, Und3rlie, and I recently met up to do a bit of exploring in Gary. The largest location we hit by far was this industrial complex.

City records conflict at times as to what exactly this location is, but I've managed to narrow it down to either a brick factory or a chemical waste storage and disposal company- and of the two options, the chemical waste disposal site seems to be the more likely of the two.

IMG_1987 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

This site was only open for six months. In 1976 a fire heavily damaged the main disposal site across town, so operations were moved here in January 1977. Six months later another fire broke out, this time ravaging this location. Anywhere between 50,000 and 60,000 barrels of toxic waste were burned over the course of several days. These wastes included toxins such as cyanide, arsenic, lead, heavy metals, and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). This location was abandoned shortly after and operations resumed at the original disposal site.

IMG_1896 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

Despite abandoning this site the company did not attempt any cleanup before they left. EPA inspectors reported finding thousands of barrels of unsecured highly toxic waste and several full underground storage tanks. The majority of the barrels were damaged and each storage tank was capable of holding 30,000 gallons of waste- and almost all of them were leaking. One inspector received chemical burns after coming in contact with the contents of one of the tanks.

IMG_1972 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

In 1984 the EPA declared the site to be a Superfund Site and began cleanup operations, starting with the removal of as much of the waste as possible. Large amounts of topsoil had to be removed as well. Cleanup was not completed until 2015, and environmental monitoring is ongoing.

IMG_1962 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

A lawsuit was filed against the company by the government over the environmental breaches the company was found to have carried out. In addition to improperly storing millions of gallons of toxic waste, the standard operation procedures they carried out were horrific. When not kept in barrels, toxic waste was dumped in large open air pits and allowed to congeal. The congealed solids were burned and any salvageable chemicals were recovered for resale. Any leftover liquid was literally just dumped on the ground, where it eventually reached a drainage ditch leading to a nearby river. The company also had a nasty habit of storing their excess barrels of waste on other people's property to the point where a restraining order was filed against them.

IMG_1943 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

Keeping with tradition, the site has been used as an illegal trash dumping ground in the decades since its closure. Perhaps the most dumped refuse are piles of old tires, but there are several broken boats and even a motor home dumped here as well. A few of the barrels of waste still remain.

IMG_1908 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

In the early 1990's it was found that the chemical contamination of the topsoil had breached the water table of the nature preserve across the road. The resulting fines forced the company to sell the property to the Gary Redevelopment Commission in 1992, which designated it as a nature preserve that remains closed to the public to this day.

IMG_2000 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

In March 2021 the body of an 18 year old man who had been missing since January was recovered from inside one of the buildings with multiple gunshot wounds. His death was ruled a homicide, and the investigation is currently ongoing.

IMG_1989 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

It is likely that this chemical plant will continue to decay uninterrupted. As it sits on a nature preserve, redevelopment would involve too much red tape for most developers and the cost of demolition is likely too prohibitive to make it a priority.

IMG_1947 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

IMG_1954 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

IMG_1887 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

IMG_1891 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

IMG_1923 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

Just north of the main complex we stumbled on this small warehouse. Not much to see, but there was a cool tree growing through a hole in the roof.

IMG_2016 by Forgotten Interstices, on Flickr

A very cool location, even if it has a dark history. I'll get around to posting more from our visit to Gary eventually, but this was the big one in my opinion.

Definitely an interesting place, especially with its history. Looks surprisingly clean for being in Gary. Thanks for sharing, can't wait to see more from there!

Really nice series and sweet historical write-up!

Given all the PCB's, PAH's, arsenic, cyanide (seriously?) and so on that burned/exploded there, how confident can you be that the soil, dust and general environs aren't a toxic health hazard to you as an explorer?

It seems you're a mask advocate, Aran, and I would tend to agree. But at what point would you ditch the mask for a respirator, in places like these? I'm pretty wary of chem sites, more than steel and other heavy industry, grain, etc.

I'm sure you know what you're doing, anyway. Nice find and photos!

Nice! And wow, that place IS huge. Almost didn’t even realize the scale until after spotting the people in the first shot. Great post as always and thanks for sharing.

Looks like a great spot! Like the tire shot and shot of the tree growing through the roof!

:: Checks Gary Urbex Spreadsheet ::

Oh wow, I haven't been everywhere in Gary. I marked this place down nearly a decade ago and never got around to it.

The pictures really tell some cool stories, the detail and effort you put into posting this find is really great, I love seeing detailed locations. Definitely and interesting place!

This place is the only site I've not known anything about before exploring it. We certainly came up with some wild guesses for what it might have been.

I love the geometry of steel supported roofed factories, like saw-tooth and skylight peaks. They really shape out a building usually a forge, foundry, or steel plant.

Posted by roue_libre Given all the PCB's, PAH's, arsenic, cyanide (seriously?) and so on that burned/exploded there, how confident can you be that the soil, dust and general environs aren't a toxic health hazard to you as an explorer? It seems you're a mask advocate, Aran, and I would tend to agree. But at what point would you ditch the mask for a respirator, in places like these? I'm pretty wary of chem sites, more than steel and other heavy industry, grain, etc.

I actually don't really wear dust masks anymore- I carry a P100 half face respirator in my pack for asbestos, black mold, etc. That being said I didn't wear it here because I didn't know what this place was at the time- I had no clue it was probably a chemical waste disposal site until I did some research the next day. That being said, the EPA Superfund cleanup effort involved removing the worst of the contaminated topsoil and capping the property, plus the building itself was missing half its walls allowing for great ventilation so I'm not too worried about airborne contaminants.

Posted by Findloo I love the geometry of steel supported roofed factories, like saw-tooth and skylight peaks. They really shape out a building usually a forge, foundry, or steel plant.

Yeah, that was one of my guesses for what this place is as well. Truth be told I'm still not entirely certain it was what I said it was. While exploring, Inloc, Und3rlie and I had a debate over what this place was originally used for.

The architecture, the coal/rock chute on the left in the first picture, the hoppers in Inloc's photos, and a sign reading "USX" (United Steel Corporation) spray painted on the wall made me think this was a steel foundry. The hoppers and warehouse sections led Inloc to conclude that it was some sort of grain processing factory. Meanwhile, the coal/rock chute, grey dust found piled in several storage rooms, and heaps of asphalt- like material out back made Und3rlie think it was probably a cement plant.

Online records I found indicate that a chemical disposal plant sat on the grounds of the nature preserve that this location is on, and but the address given is the plot next door, not this one. City tax records are of no help since they list the land as being owned by a company called General Acquisitions Corp since exactly 12:00AM on 01/01/1900 which is a shell company name if I've ever heard one. The large warehouse sections, partially flooded underground tanks, and fire damaged portions would match if this were a chemical disposal plant, but there is another option.

At one point a brick or caustic lime factory was mentioned on an obscure city record, which would also fit the architecture, coal/rock chute, hoppers, and the grey dust we found in the bulk storage rooms. However, I could not find any other mention of such a factory in any of the documents I managed to dig up.

Ultimately the history I presented in this writeup is the version with the most historical detail available. I freely admit that I might be wrong, as even now I'm still not certain that this was the chemical waste plant instead of the brick factory. This place still has an aura of mystery about it's original use that has yet to be put to rest.

Wow! This was a very engaging narrative with lots of mystery sprinkled in to leave the reader a bit curious about the location's unanswered questions.

I really wish the EPA (or whomever) had more teeth to punish the shit companies like the one you've described here. It's reprehensible, disgusting, and they should be held criminally liable for their greedy disregard for anything outside of their selfish interests (a.k.a. money) - not just a fine or a civil slap on the wrist. My two cents anyway.

I love seeing Gary posts, but they are usually of the same few places (a particular church really comes to mind), so this was a welcome and unique addition.

Great job on this one!