In 1908 and 1909 the first ships laden with ore docked at the harbor and workers lit the fires beneath the blast furnaces and began the production of steel at the Indiana Steel mill in Gary. Meanwhile real estate agents used images associated with the steel industry to sell land in the city, advertising the hulking mills not as noxious neighbors but as indicators of the region's economic potential.

Author: Edward Garstin Smith
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-37460)