East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,698 at the 2010 census. The city is home of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwater port characterized by industrial and manufacturing activity. Situated along Lake Michigan, East Chicago is very nearly 18 miles from downtown Chicago, Illinois and is just west of Gary, Indiana.

The home that became East Chicago was originally swampland improper for farming. The divulge of Indiana began selling off plots of land to railroads and speculators after 1851 to fund the local instructor system. Settlement of the Place was utterly slow at first, and as late as the 1890s, the city had no proper streets or public utilities. East Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1893. The city was named from its location east of Chicago, Illinois.

The 1900 Census gives a total population of just 3,411, but the introduction of Inland Steel in 1903 transformed the city into an industrial powerhouse. The city’s population skyrocketed to more than 24,000 by 1910, powered by immigration from whatever over Europe and the United States, and speedily became the most industrialized city in the United States, with beyond 80% of the city’s estate zoned for stifling industry. Inland Steel dominated the city’s economy through the 1990s, and expanded its colossal integrated mill at Indiana Harbor multiple grow old through the 1980s. From 60,000 tons of steel faculty in 1903, it expanded to 600,000 tons by 1914 and reached 1 million in 1917, and eventually peaked at 8.6 million tons in 1978. By 1907, East Chicago boasted a navigable waterway colleague to Lake Michigan and to the Grand Calumet River: the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal. Steel mills, petroleum refineries, construction firms, and chemical factories operated at Indiana Harbor and along its inner canal system.

Republic Steel, Youngstown Steel, LaSalle Steel, and U.S. Steel whatever eventually had steel-making operations in the city. During World War I, East Chicago was nicknamed the “Arsenal of America” (not to be mortified with Detroit’s label as the “Arsenal of Democracy” during WWII) and the “Workshop of America”.