The 1909 Times article describes the beginning of Gary Indiana and its early investments. This newspaper is an insight into what the hopes and dreams of the city were. This analysis will outline what those hopes for the city were exactly.

The article's first story has the headline "PANIC FELT LITTLE BY GARY" and it describes how the steel mill has spared Gary from being hit by the financial depression. Those steel mills had been generating millions of dollars creating steel for local railroads. The story also discusses the need for housing for construction workers as the city begins expanding. Expanding housing would bring in more workers and make more money. The story also describes Gary buildings, one of the best sewage systems in the country, along with more streets and sidewalks being built soon. In the following stories, the article describes important events that are taking place in Gary such as the construction of hospitals, churches, and railroads to other cities. There are also plans for contractors and the cost to build homes in Gary. The part of the paper that takes up the most space is an advertisement to invest in Gary. It promises that investing in property will be beneficial because Gary is destined to be the "second Chicago".

This article displays how big Gary's plans were for the future. There is an optimistic theme within the stories yet it prompts the question why did Gary not sustain this optimism? It was destined to be the second Chicago but it did not last 100 years. What could have been done differently to keep the city booming 100 years later? Was it because Gary was so close to Chicago? These questions can begin to be answered by the paper Steel City: Urban and Ethnic Patterns in Gary, Indiana by Raymond A. Mohl and Neil Betten. This article describes the poor planning in the city and how racial discrimination played role in Gary's downfall.