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{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Marktown Historic District
| nrhp_type = hd
| nocat = yes
| image = Park Street in Marktown.jpg
| caption = Houses on Park Street
| location = Bounded by Pine, Riley, Dickey, and 129th Sts., [[East Chicago, Indiana|East Chicago]], [[Indiana]]
| coordinates = {{coord|41|39|32|N|87|28|4|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = Indiana#USA
| built = 1917
| architect = [[Howard Van Doren Shaw]]
| added = February 20, 1975
| area = {{convert|40|acre}}
| refnum = 75000025<ref name=nris>{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
}}

'''Marktown''' is an urban [[planned community|planned]] [[company town|worker community]] in [[East Chicago]], [[Indiana]], [[United States]],<ref name=Smith>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Stephanie |last2=Mark |first2=Steve |year=2011 |title=Marktown: Clayton Mark's Planned Worker Community in Northwest Indiana. |journal=South Shore Journal |volume=4 |url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ssj/article/view/13413}}</ref> built during the [[Progressive Era]] in 1917 from marshland to provide a complete community for workers at [[Clayton Mark and Company|The Mark Manufacturing Company]].<ref name="SHAARD">{{cite web| url = https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/welcome.html| title = Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD) | publisher = Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology | format = Searchable database| accessdate = 2016-05-01}} ''Note:'' This includes {{cite web| url =https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/2c8b5/N/Marktown_Historic_District,_Lake_Co.,_IN.pdf| title = National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Marktown Historic District| accessdate = 2016-05-01| author=Richard Morrisroe| date=January 1975}} and Accompanying photographs.</ref>

The '''Marktown Historic District''' was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1975.<ref name="nris"/>

[[File:Main Retail Building Exterior 1.jpg|thumb|Retail on the bottom, apartments on top. Abandoned since the 1980s.]]
[[File:Marktown typical block 2.jpg|thumb|Abandoned houses and duplexes side by side with occupied.]]
[[File:Main Retail Building Interior 2.jpg|thumb|Retail on the bottom, apartments on top. Abandoned since the 1980s.]]
[[File:Marktown Abandoned Property.jpg|thumb|Abandoned duplex in Marktown]]

==History==
The community of Marktown was founded by [[Clayton Mark]], a pioneer maker of steel in the United States. The renowned architect hired to design the community, [[Howard Van Doren Shaw]], created a unique design in which the streets serve as walkways and the cars are parked on the sidewalks, as noted in ''[[Ripley’s Believe It or Not]]''.<ref>
{{cite book
|title=Ripley's Believe It or Not!
|volume=15
|year=1967
|location=New York
|publisher=Pocket Books
}}</ref> Shaw previously designed Mark's estate in [[Lake Forest, Illinois]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Skertic|first=Mark|title=A Native's Guide to Northwest Indiana|series=Native's Guide|publisher=Lake Claremont Press|year=2003|isbn=978-1893121089|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781893121089/page/64 64]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781893121089/page/64}}</ref>

Only 10% of the original design was built, as the building of the community was terminated due to the aftereffects of [[World War I]] and the sale of the Mark Manufacturing Company. The industries in East Chicago expanded to the borders of Marktown, surrounding the historic residential island with one of the densest industrial complexes in the world.<ref name=article/> It was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1975,<ref name=nris /> and was listed as one of the seven wonders of Northwest Indiana.<ref name=Smith/>

Marktown is regarded as an important cultural resource of architectural and historical significance. In the words of the Marktown Revitalization Plan commissioned by the city of East Chicago in 2008, "Marktown is significant as it is a major work by a significant American architect, Howard Van Doren Shaw, for its association with the driving economic force of industry that served as an identity of the region, and is representative of the planned industrial community movement of the late 19th and early 20th century."<ref>[http://marktown.org/pdf/Marktown_Plan.pdf ''Marktown Revitalization Plan'' (December 2008). Prepared by Bauer Latoza Studio for the City of East Chicago.]</ref>

As late as 2011, all of the originally constructed homes in Marktown still stood.<ref name=article>{{cite journal | url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ssj/article/view/13413 | title=Marktown: Clayton Mark's Planned Worker Community in Northwest Indiana | first1=Stephanie | last1=Smith | first2=Steve | last2=Mark | journal=South Shore Journal | publisher=Indiana University | volume=4 | date=2011}}</ref> However, since then some properties have been bought by [[BP]] and demolished.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/marktown-slowly-disappearing-as-bp-demolishes-homes/article_9a6f9341-a6ed-5264-8046-dc104aaaafeb.html | title=Marktown slowly disappearing as BP demolishes homes | first=Edwin | last=Bierschenk | work=Northwest Indiana Times | location=Muncie, Indiana | date=June 27, 2015 | access-date=August 10, 2021}}</ref> The homes are being evacuated due to air pollution and concerns regarding safety in the vicinity of the expanding crude tar sands processing facility. <ref>[https://sjnnchicago.medill.northwestern.edu/blog/2016/09/02/dilemma-marktown-residents-neighbor-bp-refinery/ ''The dilemma for Marktown residents: When your neighbor is the BP refinery'' (September 2016)]</ref>

In 2022, East Chicago began a Marktown Neighborhood Housing Study to consider renovations of the historical district.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=The Times | title=Renovating historic Marktown | last=Devore | first=Molly | date=November 4, 2022 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/118174910/marktown-indiana-renovation-2022-pa1/ | pages=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/118175005/marktown-indiana-renovation-2022-pa5/ A5]}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in Indiana}}
{{East Chicago, Indiana}}

[[Category:Planned communities in the United States]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Lake County, Indiana]]
[[Category:East Chicago, Indiana]]
[[Category:Environmental disaster ghost towns]]

Marktown - Revision history

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