Michael Jackson Childhood Home

Midtown, also called Central, is a neighborhood in central Gary, Indiana. For many decades it was the only African-American neighborhood in the city. It is located south of Downtown West and north of Glen Park along Broadway, Gary's principal thoroughfare. It adjoins the neighborhoods of Tolleston to the west and Pulaski to the east. As of 2000, Midtown had a population of 12,056.The Midtown neighborhood began as a community of poor white ethnic millworkers, who were excluded from the more upscale neighborhoods close to the Gary Works. Significant African American immigration began after World War I; the neighborhood remained integrated for a time, but gradually the whites moved out as housing became available elsewhere, while the blacks were kept in Midtown by segregationist city ordinances. The neighborhood's white population dropped from 25% in 1940 to 4% in 1950. In the 1950 census, Midtown accounted for 97% of Gary's black population. Prior to desegregation, Midtown was a largely self-contained African-American community: because blacks were largely excluded from Downtown Gary, most retail activity was kept within the neighborhood. During the Richard Hatcher administration in the 1960s and 1970s, Midtown was targeted for urban renewal, and thousands of substandard homes were demolished. Today Midtown's housing stock is a mixture of single-family and multi-family homes, including a number of affordable housing developments. As of 2000, the owner-occupancy rate was 36.6%. Commercial activity is concentrated along Broadway and Grant streets. The neighborhood was served by the W.E.B. DuBois branch of the Gary Public Library until it was consolidated with the main branch, and also has its own post office. Public transportation is provided by buses of the Gary Public Transportation Corporation running along Broadway. The neighborhood is the site of Theodore Roosevelt High School. Famous people from Midtown include the musicians of the Jackson family, such as Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. Other noted Midtown residents include educator Ida B. King. The neighborhood also hosted many jazz and blues musicians during the segregation period.

Theodore Roosevelt College and Career Academy (TRCCA), formerly known as Theodore Roosevelt High School and often referred to as Gary Roosevelt, was a charter school located in the Midtown neighborhood of Gary, Indiana, United States. In February 2020, the Distressed Unit Appeal Board voted to close Roosevelt after a series of burst pipes throughout the winter of 2019 left the school in need of expensive repairs. At the time of its closing, the school was managed by EdisonLearning and was divided into a senior and collegiate academy for grades 9–12 and a junior academy for grades 7–8. Roosevelt was part of the Gary Community School Corporation until 2012, when the Indiana Department of Education took control of the school due to poor academic performance and contracted with EdisonLearning to operate the school. Under Edison, Roosevelt was reorganized into academies and the school received its final name. Athletic teams at Roosevelt were known as the Panthers and the school colors were black and gold. Roosevelt was part of the Indiana High School Athletic Association as a member of the Northwestern Conference. The origins of the school date to 1908, when a one-room school was established for Gary's African American children at Twelfth Avenue and Massachusetts Street. After portable classrooms were relocated to Twenty-fifth Avenue and Harrison Street the school was named the Roosevelt Annex. The school began offering secondary-level courses in 1925. In 1927, the Emerson School Strike prompted the city to officially segregate its schools by building a separate high school for Black students. The new building was designed by architect William Butts Ittner, constructed in 1929, and dedicated as Roosevelt High School in April 1931. It was named in honor of former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. The first graduation ceremony at the new high school was held in 1933. The Gary Roosevelt was developed during the early decades of the twentieth century as part of William Wirt's Gary System of education, which offered vocational training and college preparatory classes to high school students, as well as extracurricular activities and athletic programs. The school building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in December 2012.

The Diocese of Gary (Latin: Dioecesis Gariensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in northwest Indiana in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Indianapolis. The mother church of the Diocese of Gary is the Cathedral of the Holy Angels in Gary, Indiana. The diocese was erected on December 17, 1956, by Pope Pius XII. As of 2023, the current bishop is Robert J. McClory.

Gary Public Schools Memorial Auditorium was a historic public facility in Gary, Indiana. The 5,000 seat auditorium was commissioned by the Gary Land Company, part of the United States Steel Corporation and was designed by Joseph Wildermuth. It was dedicated to residents who died fighting in World War I. It was closed in 1972 and the interior was destroyed during a fire in 1997. The building was demolished in 2020.

The Louis J. Bailey Branch Library is a historic Carnegie library building located at Gary, Indiana. It was built in 1918, and is a one-story, Colonial Revival style brick building on a raised basement. It has a slate gable roof and projecting entrance block with Corinthian order pilasters. The building was constructed with a $25,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation. Beginning in 1919, it housed the Gary International Institute in the building's basement. The branch closed about 1963.: 5, 9, 12, 14 It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 as the Louis J. Bailey Branch Library-Gary International Institute.

The Gary Crusader is a newspaper based in Gary, Indiana, United States, which has been featured in national newspapers for its focus on the African-American community. It was founded in 1961 and became part of the Crusader Newspaper Group founded by Balm L. Leavell and Joseph H. Jefferson. The Crusader Newspaper Group, founded in 1940, consists of The Chicago Crusader and, since 1961, the Gary Crusader. The newspaper is currently run by Balm L. Leavell's wife, Dorothy Leavell, chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. The Crusader was established to shed light on the civil rights movement, African-American culture, and news about the Gary African-American community. The Editor of the Gary Crusader is Sharon Fountain. The current publisher for the Gary Crusader, Dorothy Leavell, is stationed in Chicago, Illinois, in their larger sister organization, the Chicago Crusader. This paper has a twice-weekly print release, while also maintaining a daily article update on their website. They have a print circulation of just over fifty-six thousand copies. The Gary Crusader is the sixth largest newspaper in the state, while also being the largest ethnic-based newspaper in Indiana. Located just over 25 miles from downtown Chicago, it is well known in the Northwest Indiana region.The Gary Crusader was founded in 1961. The publication was created as a way to give a voice to the African-American population in the Northwest Region of Indiana. In the very turbulent year of 1968 for the African-American community, with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Democratic Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy, founder Balm L. Leavell died. His wife, Dorothy Leavell assumed the role of Publisher.

Calumet Township is one of eleven townships in Lake County, Indiana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 104,258 and it contained 49,554 housing units.

Gary ( GAIR-ee) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the southern shore of Lake Michigan about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of downtown Chicago, Illinois. The city is adjacent to the Indiana Dunes National Park, and is within the Chicago metropolitan area.Gary was named after lawyer Elbert Henry Gary, who was the founding chairman of the United States Steel Corporation. U.S. Steel had established the city in 1906 as a company town to serve its steel mills. Although initially a very diverse city, after white flight in the 1970s, the city of Gary held the nation's highest percentage of African Americans for several decades. As of the 2020 census the city's population was 69,093, making it Indiana's ninth-largest city. Like other Rust Belt cities, Gary's once thriving steel industry has been significantly affected by the disappearance of local manufacturing jobs since the 1970s. As a result of this economic shift, the city's population has decreased drastically, having lost 61% of its population since 1960. Because of its large losses in population and deteriorating economy, Gary is often cited as an example of industrial decline and urban decay in America.Gary is serviced by the Gary/Chicago International Airport, an alternative airport to the Chicago region's two larger airports. The city's public transport is provided by the Gary Public Transportation Corporation and the South Shore Line passenger railway, which connects to the Chicago transit system. It is also home to a professional baseball team, the Gary SouthShore RailCats. In addition to its large steel mills, the city is known for being the birthplace of the Jackson family, a family of well-known entertainers whose members include singer Michael Jackson.

Indiana University Northwest (IU Northwest or IUN) is a public university in Gary, Indiana. It is one of seven regional campuses of Indiana University and was established in 1963. The university enrolls approximately 3,500 degree-seeking traditional and non-traditional students along with 1,800 dual-credit students.

The Cathedral of the Holy Angels is a Catholic cathedral located in Gary, Indiana, United States. It is the seat of the Diocese of Gary, and the home of Holy Angels Parish.

Thea Bowman Leadership Academy is a K-12 charter school in Gary, Indiana. It was established by the Drexel Foundation for Educational Excellence, Inc., and is managed by American Quality Schools, Inc. The school is named after Sr Thea Bowman, an African-American Catholic nun, teacher, and scholar in the 20th century.

Polk Street Concrete Cottage Historic District is a national historic district located in the First Subdivision of Gary, Indiana. The district encompasses four contributing buildings in a residential section of Gary. The buildings were designed by D. F. Creighton and built by the United States Sheet & Tin Plate Co. They were built starting in 1910 and are examples of the Edison Concept Houses that were designed, patented, and promoted by inventor Thomas Edison. The houses reflect Bungalow / American Craftsman design elements.It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.