The city of Gary in Indiana, once known as the City of the Century, has become one of the most striking examples of the devastating effects of the Urbanistic crisis in the United States. Founded in 1906, US Steel, Gary grew in an industrial lift and attracted workers from all over the country. However, after the closing of large factories and outflows of the population, the city was on the verge of decline, and today its ruins have become objects for research and photos.
Matthew Christopher, a city researcher and author of the project Abandoned America, became one of those who recorded Gary's bitter reality. His photographs are shown by abandoned schools, once majestic churches, empty houses and even mystical "cemeteries" of old motorcycles that have become symbols of economic decline and social instability.
Gary was built as a working city to serve Gary Works Metallurgical Complex, the largest plant in the United States. Due to the proximity to Lake Michigan and the importance for transportation, the city attracted tens of thousands of people, but social inequality and interraion conflicts, which grew by the mid -20th century, created favorable conditions for degradation. Together with the closure of the factories and economic upheavals, these problems led to the massive outflow of residents and the decline of the city.
After Gary has become one of the most dangerous places in the country in the 1990s, the "ghost city" became not only a symbol of the economic crisis, but also the center for photographers, urban researchers and tourists looking for traces of the old industrial past. Today, more than 30% of buildings remain empty, and several tens of thousands of objects are destroyed, creating almost a post -apocalyptic atmosphere.
Among the many forgotten corners of Gary, Matthew Christopher finds dramatic and even mystical scenes, such as abandoned funeral bureaus with empty coffins. These pictures give a sense of bitterness and tragedy of the city, which was once a prosperous industrial center. The impressive footage showing these ruins can be seen on the Christopher website and in his social networks, where he tells the stories of every object that has retained the echo of past grandeur.
Today, Gary is experiencing his decline, but the city remains a monument to the industrial history of America, and its ruins attract the attention of those who are interested in how the social and economic crisis can leave their mark in the city landscape.
