The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1906-11-21
Or PAY
THE FORFEIT.
Hammond Must Get Busy
or Others Will Reap
It's Benefits.
PLAN new CAR LINE
Standard Would Draw Help From
AL Sections; Location of
Gates Important.

There are two propositions connect
ed with the building of the Standard
Steel Car company that are OF vital
Importance to the people of Hammond
and the property owners in the vicin-
ity of the plant
The one is the fact that the new
company is already arranging for |
suburban depot on the Nickel Plate
railroad in order that its employees |
may live in Indiana Harbor and East |
Chicago as wei las Hammond, and be |
carried to the door of the plant every |
morning with less trouble than the |
Homewood business man has in catch
ing a car to his office.
This means that Hammond will have |
to get busy and build some houses or
the big industry that is to build here
will contribute more to the prosperity
of the neighboring cities than it will
to the community in which 1t is 10
Gated. In this event the prosperity
that would go to them would be all in
the family anyway and would not be
nearly so serious as the prospect Of
having the high-salaried executives
live in Chicago instead of building
homes here. 1t is apparent that the
Standard Steel Car company is not go
ing to take any chances in limiting the
| territory from which its employees are
to be drafted and it behooves the peo-
pie of this city to provide places for
people to live if they would have them
| spend money here.
States Location Important.
/. The other question is that of the
location of the main entrance to the
| grounds of the new car company. On
account of the enormous site that has
been selected for the new plant, it is
going to make great deal of diff
| ference whether the gates are to be
| located on the north side of the site,
in front of a Lake Shore suburban
| station, at the triangle formed by
| the intersection of the Nickel Plate
| tracks or on Columbia avenue, midway
| between the northern and southern
extremities of the land upon which
the plant is to be built.
| From q hundred different sources
| streams of working men will form
| mighty river of humanity and at
o'clock each morning will pour into the
enormous plant that is now being
built At night these same thousands
of men will retrace their steps and
return to their homes with the pound
of meat, the loaf of bread, or the dozen
of eggs that the good housewife eau
toned them not to forget to pur-
chase
Means New Business District.
This means that along the route
| these many men will take after they
become separated and dispense to their
homes in the four corners of the city,
there will spring up groceries, meat
markets, dry-goods. clothing stores
and cigar stands. with perhaps a sa-
loon or two here and there. So pot
ent will be the influence of these
earners and spenders that a new bust
ness district will be created to meet
the demand.
Hammond has already had such an
experience in the reverse. When the
G. H. Hammond company was the
principal industry in Hammond and
employed something like a thousand
men, West Plummer avenue and
Morton court were two of the busiest
thoroughfares in the city. 1t was
hard to find a business location along
those streets that was not taken, and
residences in the vicinity were at a
premium. Even the postofice used to
be in Plummer avenue, in the Towle
. block
The G. H. Hammond company pulled
up its stakes and left for Chicago, and
gradually the business district shift
ed to State and Holman streets, where
it has been ever since.
Lines More Defined.
OF course, the business and resi-
dence districts of the city were not sc
we'll defined as they are now and the
5 city was in more of an embryotic state
then than it is now, but it must be re-
msmbered that the Standard Steel Cal
[ company will employ 5000 men tC
the G. H Hammond company's one
q thousand, and that the plant is locat
ed in the direction of the tendency O
= the growth, while the G. H. Hammond
S concern was located in a direction
g from which the city was growing.
n II is this that makes the matter o
the location of the gates to the plan
such an important one. If they ar
located on the north side Of the sit
and east of Columbia avenue. tina
portion of the city lying between tn
Michigan Central and Nickel Plat
=, tracks will receive the greatest benef
: while, If the gates are located at tn
e intersection of the Nickel Plate track
/. and Columbia avenue. the part of tn
5 town north, west and southwest of tn
e plant will be benefited Should tn
d gates be located on Columbia avenue
II at a point where an extension of Con
e key avenue would intersect with Col
J. umbia avenue, it would almost mea
the building of a new suburb of tn
4 rftv