East Chicago — East Chicago Map Poster & Print

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East Chicago Map Poster & Print

East Chicago sits on the southern shore of Lake Michigan in northwest Indiana, between Hammond and Gary. From above, the most striking feature is the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal, which cuts inland from the lake and divides the city into two distinct halves. The street grid on either side is tight and orderly. Along the shore, it gives way to piers, slips and land built out into the water.

The two halves have long been known locally as Harbor and Calumet, and on a map they read almost like separate towns joined by a few bridges. Most of the lakefront is taken up by large industrial parcels. For more than a century the city has been tied to steelmaking, and the scale of those sites is visible even at a small print size, as broad blank blocks beside the fine residential grid.

An East Chicago map poster shows how industry, water and neighborhood fit together in one small area. Rail lines curve through the city and meet the canal. Expressways run along its southern edge, and to the south the Grand Calumet River corridor adds a thin, winding line. In black and white, the contrast between the huge harbor blocks and the narrow house lots becomes the main subject of the composition.