City Methodist Church: Gary’s Cathedral Ruin, Indiana

Gary, Indiana, was built by U.S. Steel and named after its chairman, Elbert Gary. In the 1920s, the steel company helped the city build a church to match its ambitions. Ground was broken in January 1925. U.S. Steel donated the land and about half the $800,000 cost, and Elbert Gary gave the organ. The church held its first service on October 3, 1926. It was Gothic Revival in limestone and terra cotta, with a sanctuary that could hold 3,000 people and a connected nine-story complex with a 1,000-seat theater, offices, a gym, a Sunday school and a dining hall. The Chicago Sun-Times described it as, at one time, the largest Methodist church in the Midwest. Membership passed 3,000 in the 1950s. As the steel industry shrank and the city’s population shifted, the congregation dwindled. A merger with a Black congregation was considered, but community interviews revealed deep distrust. The church closed on October 5, 1975. Indiana University used part of the complex for a time. Then the building was left empty. A severe fire in 1997 sped up the decay, and the sanctuary was left open to the sky. Photographers, urban explorers and even goth wedding parties came to see the ruin. Indiana Landmarks listed it among the state’s 10 most endangered places. Plans came and went: a park, a ruins garden, a stabilized bell tower. A 2026 estimate put stabilization at $4.2 million, and no funding partner came forward. In September 2026, the regional development authority awarded a $5.3 million demolition contract. The city called the building “unsafe and unrecoverable.”