Hammond, Indiana

Hammond is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 80,830 at the 2010 census.

Geography
Hammond is located at 41.61111°N, -87.49306°W (41.611185, -87.493080).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 24.8 square miles (64.3 km²), of which 22.9 square miles (59.3 km²) is land and 2.0 square miles (5.1 km²) (7.85%) is water. The city's elevation above sea level is 176 m – 186 m (577 ft – 610 ft). The city sits within the boundaries of the former Lake Chicago. Most of the city is on sandy soil with a layer of black topsoil that varies from non-existent to several feet (a meter or more) thick. Much of the exposed sand has been removed for purposes such as industrial use to make concrete and glass.

Lakes and rivers

 * Lake George
 * Lake Michigan (partial)
 * Oxbow Lake
 * Wolf Lake (partial)
 * Grand Calumet River (partial)
 * Little Calumet River (partial)

Adjacent cities, towns and villages

 * Burnham, Illinois
 * Calumet City, Illinois
 * Chicago, Illinois
 * Lansing, Illinois
 * Gary, Indiana
 * Griffith, Indiana
 * Highland, Indiana
 * East Chicago, Indiana
 * Munster, Indiana
 * Whiting, Indiana

Demographics
At the 2010 census, there were 80,830 people, 29,949 households and 19,222 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,259.3 per square mile (1,257.1/km²). There were 32,945 housing units at an average density of 1,328.4 per square mile (512.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 59.4% White, 22.5% African American, 0.5% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 13.3% from other races, and 3.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 34.1% of the population. Whites with no Hispanic or Latino ancestry were 41.5% of the population.

27.3% of the population were under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 30.1% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 95.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.2 males.

As of 2009, the median income for a household in the town was $39,786 while the mean income for a household in the town was $47,084. The median income for a family was $47,605 and the mean income for a family was $54,265. The estimated per capita income for the town was $18,195. About 15.4% of families and 19.1% of the population were estimated to be below the poverty line.

Cityscape

 * Central Hammond
 * East Hammond
 * Glendale Park
 * Harrison Park
 * Hyde Park
 * Jacob's Square
 * Sohl


 * Hessville
 * North Hammond
 * Robertsdale
 * The Whiting post office (46394) serves not only the City of Whiting but also this adjacent Hammond neighborhood of Robertsdale, immediately to the west of Whiting. Addresses in this Hammond neighborhood show “Whiting, Indiana.” While not legally a part of the City of Whiting, locally the area has long been informally considered to be a culturally integrated part of Whiting. References to Whiting businesses or residents often include those technically from Hammond’s Robertsdale.


 * South Hammond
 * Forest-Ivanhoe
 * Indi-Illi Park
 * Columbia Center
 * Meadows
 * Sleicher (Slacker)
 * Woodmar

Transportation
Most of Hammond's streets are laid out in a grid pattern similar to Chicago's streets. While Madison Street in Chicago acts as the reference point for north-south street numbering the first "1" is removed; this makes what would be a five digit address number in Illinois into a four digit address number in Hammond. The state line is used as the reference point for east-west street numbering.

Other cities and towns in Northwest Indiana that use the Hammond numbering system are Whiting, Munster and Highland. Dyer also uses the Hammond numbering system but the first number removed from the north-south streets is a "2," as by that point the Illinois numbers across the state line start with the number 2 (Munster's Street numbers start with a "1" north of the Dyer line, making them 5 digits); and East Chicago uses the canal located in the middle of the city as the east-west reference point, while embodying Hammond's numbering system for the north-south streets.


 * I-90 - Indiana Toll Road, exits:
 * Indianapolis Boulevard - U.S. Route 12/U.S. Route 20/U.S. Route 41
 * Cline Avenue - Indiana State Route 912
 * Calumet Avenue - U.S. Route 41


 * I-80/94 - Borman Expressway, exits:
 * Calumet Avenue (U.S. 41 North)
 * Indianapolis Boulevard (U.S. 41 South, Indiana 152)
 * Kennedy Avenue
 * Cline Avenue (Indiana 912)

Public transportation
The South Shore Electric Line, a Chicago to South Bend, Indiana commuter rail line, has a station on Hohman Avenue in Hammond. It is operated by NICTD.

Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides twice-daily service in both directions, operating its Wolverine through the Hammond–Whiting station between Chicago and Pontiac, Michigan, just north of Detroit. Baggage on Amtrak cannot be checked at this location; however, up to two suitcases in addition to any "personal items" such as briefcases, purses, laptop bags, and infant equipment are allowed on board as carry-ons.

The nearest commercial airport is Gary/Chicago International Airport in Gary.

Bus transit is provided by the Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority, which assumed responsibility from the city's Hammond Transit System in 2010, establishing EasyGo Lake Transit system in its place. In addition, Pace routes 350 and 364 and GPTC Tri-City Connection Route 12 from Gary, Indiana stop at Hammond's Dan Rabin Transit Plaza.

Medical centers and hospitals
The only hospital in Hammond is St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Center, North campus. The hospital lies on Stateline Road, across the street from the Illinois city of Calumet City. The hospital was founded late in 1898 and was originally called St. Margaret Hospital. It merged with Our Lady Of Mercy Hospital in Dyer, Indiana, in the 1990s. The two hospitals became "campuses" of a new entity called Saint Margaret Mercy Medical Center and Hospital, part of the Sisters of St. Francis Health Services. It serves northwest Indiana and south suburban Chicago. The North Campus portion of the medical center (located in Hammond) is an accredited chest pain center.

Utilities

 * Electricity - Nearly all of the electricity used in Hammond is produced by Nipsco, a NiSource company.
 * Natural gas - Nearly all of the natural gas used in Hammond is produced by Nipsco, a NiSource company.
 * Water - Water service for nearly all consumers of water in the city is provided by the Hammond Water Department, a state owned utility that is operated by the civil city government.

History
The first permanent residents arrived around 1847 to settle on land between the Grand and Little Calumet Rivers, on the South end of Lake Michigan. Those first residents were German farmers newly arrived from Europe looking for land and opportunity. Before that time, the area was a crossroad for Indian tribes, explorers, stagecoach lines and supply lines to the West. Convenient location and abundant fresh water from Lake Michigan led to the beginning of Hammond's industrialization in 1869 with the George H. Hammond Company meat-packing plant following merchants and farmers to the area. Hammond was incorporated on April 21, 1884, and was named after the Detroit butcher. Hammond is one of the oldest cities in Lake County, with Crown Point being the oldest, established in 1834. According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago: George Henry Hammond, a pioneer in the use of refrigerated railcars for the transport of fresh meat, first used this method with his small packing company in Detroit, Michigan. In 1868, Hammond received a patent for a refrigerator car design. In the early 1870s, he built a new plant in Northern Indiana along the tracks of the Michigan Central Railroad. By 1873, the George H. Hammond Co. was selling $1 million worth of meat a year; by 1875, sales were nearly $2 million. The company's large packing house in Hammond, Indiana—the town had taken the name of its most powerful resident—rivaled those located at the Union Stock Yard in Chicago. By the middle of the 1880s, when it built a new plant in Omaha, Nebraska, Hammond was slaughtering over 100,000 cattle a year and owned a fleet of 800 refrigerator cars. After Hammond died in 1886, the company became less important and no lon ger challenged the giant Chicago packers, who acquired Hammond at the turn of the century and merged it into their National Packing Co.

On June 22, 1918, the Hammond circus train wreck occurred about 5.5 mi east of the city, killing 86 and injuring 127 persons.

According to the 1960 U.S. Census Hammond's population reached a record high of 111,698 residents.

Hammond is also the home of The First Baptist Church of Hammond, one of the nation's largest congregations.

The Flag of Hammond depicts the Grand Calumet River and the Little Calumet River. The flag was designed by Anthony Betustak and the original is now on display in the main conference room of the Mayor's suite in Hammond City Hall.

Roby Tap was a legendary tavern within a suburb of the city that was finally torn down in 1999 to make room for an expansion of the Horseshoe Casino at the nearby marina. A popular watering hole for the workers at the nearby American Maize and Lever Brothers Soap factories as well as surrounding steel mills, it was founded in 1941. Longtime bartender Michael Smaluk and his wife his Margaret (who created the extremely popular Roby Tap Chili) ran the tavern until its eventual demolition in 1999.

The iconic 65000 sqft Gothic Masonic Temple that was once the hub of social activity for many Hammond residents met the claw of an excavator on June 24, 2009, driven by Mayor Thomas McDermott, Jr., clearing the way for the new Hammond Urban Academy. The mammoth cornerstone to the ornately elegant three-story red brick building on Muenich Court was laid May 1, 1907, to great fanfare. Speaker for the day was none other than Charles Fairbanks, vice president under U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1921, the Masonic Building Association enhanced the building to the tune of $440,000. By the 1970s, its replacement cost was estimated at $4.8 million. In 2008, its estimated restoration would have topped $20 million.

Hammond is the home of the second largest police memorial in the state of Indiana. Constructed at a cost of $600,000. the memorial is constructed of black granite from the same quarry that provided the black granite used in the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. The memorial consists of three black granite walls which have the names and likenesses of the seven Hammond Police Officers who have given their lives in the performance of their duties. At the center of the memorial are five triangular pillars, which form a five point star, representing both the five point star badge worn by Hammond Police Officers, and the symbol of the Fraternal Order of Police, the local lodge of which (Lodge 51) represents the members of the Hammond Police Department and which established the fund that built the memorial. On the five pillars are engraved pictures depicting the history of the Hammond Police Department from 1883 to present. Surrounding the memorial is a brick walkway which has the names, service dates, and I.D. badge numbers of Hammond Police Officers past and present.

Major businesses

 * Cargill
 * Dietrich Industries (steel framing)
 * Horseshoe Casino
 * Lear Corporation (auto interiors)
 * Unilever
 * Jupiter Aluminum
 * Tortilla Nuevo Leon (tortilla producer)
 * Cabelas
 * British Petroleum (partial)
 * Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad

Primary and secondary schools
Hammond is served by the School City of Hammond, a school corporation under Indiana state law that is independent of the civil city.

High schools

 * Hammond High School
 * Morton High School
 * Area Career Center

Middle and high schools

 * George Rogers Clark Middle/High School
 * Donald E. Gavit Middle/High School
 * Hammond Academy of Science and Technology

Middle schools

 * Henry W. Eggers Middle School
 * Scott Middle School

Primary schools

 * Columbia Elementary School
 * Edison Elementary School
 * Benjamin Franklin Elementary School
 * Warren G. Harding Elementary School
 * Joseph Hess Elementary School
 * Washington Irving Elementary School
 * Thomas Jefferson Elementary School
 * Kenwood Elementary School
 * Lafayette Elementary School
 * Lincoln Elementary School
 * Maywood Elementary School
 * Morton Elementary School
 * Frank O'Bannon Elementary School
 * Lew Wallace Elementary School

Privately owned and operated schools

 * Bishop Noll Institute
 * Bishop Noll Prep Academy (Junior High)
 * City Baptist High School
 * Chicago Baptist Academy
 * Hazel Young Academy
 * Montessori Children's Schoolhouse
 * St. Casimir
 * St. Catherine of Siena
 * St. John Bosco
 * St. John the Baptist

Colleges and universities

 * Calumet College of St. Joseph- privately owned
 * Purdue University Calumet - state owned
 * Kaplan University - privately owned
 * Indiana Dabney University - privately owned

Public libraries
Hammond Public Library operates the Main Library, which includes the Suzanne G. Long Local History Room, at 564 State Street. In addition the system operates the E. B. Hayward Branch at 1212 172nd Street and the Howard Branch at 7047 Grand Avenue.

City government
Hammond is incorporated as a city under Indiana law. It therefore has a mayor and a nine member city council. Hammond's City Hall is located at 5925 Calumet Avenue.

The Hammond city council has meetings scheduled for the second and fourth Mondays of each month. The city maintains a city court on the second floor of the City Hall, exercising a limited jurisdiction within Lake County. The court handles not only local ordinance violations and certain minor criminal matters, but also a significant portion of the debt collection and eviction actions brought in Lake County.


 * Councilmen at Large


 * Robert A. Markovich
 * Dan Spitale
 * Kathleen Pucalik


 * District Councilmen
 * 1st District Mark Kalwinski
 * 2nd District Alfonso L. Salinas
 * 3rd District Anthony W. Higgs
 * 4th District Kim Poland
 * 5th District Daniel C. Repay
 * 6th District Homero "Chico" Hinojosa


 * City Officials
 * Robert Lendi - City Controller
 * James Callhan - Building Commissioner
 * Brian Miller - Police Chief
 * David Hamm - Fire Chief

The Mayor is Thomas McDermott, Jr..

Sports

 * Past teams
 * Hammond Rollers, American Basketball Association team founded in 2006, and was sold to the owner of the Quad City Riverhawks the same year. The team is now known as the Sauk Valley Rollers of Rock Falls, Illinois.
 * Hammond Ciesar All-Americans (1938–41) and Hammond Calumet Buccaneers (1948–49), professional basketball teams in the National Basketball League. Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Boudreau and legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden both played for the Ciesar All-Americans.

Hammond came in 2nd (against Taipei, Taiwan) in the 1972 Little League World Series.

The Hammond Pros (1920–1924)
The Hammond Pros was one of the America's earliest professional football teams. When the American Professional Football League was formed in 1920, the Hammond Pros was a charter member, as it also was when the league changed its name to National Football League in 1922. However, four years later, when the NFL decided to reduce the number of teams, it did so by simply folding smaller franchises; the Hammond Pros (which never played a home game in Hammond) was moved to Akron, Ohio, and became the Akron Pros in 1925.

During the four years of the Hammond Pros' existence, the NFL had nine African-American players, six of whom played for the Pros. The NFL's first African-American head coach was Hall-of-Famer coach Fritz Pollard of the Pros.

Notable natives and residents

 * Robert K. Abbett - artist, illustrator
 * Michael Badnarik - Libertarian Party 2004 presidential candidate
 * Gerald R. Beaman - U.S. Navy admiral
 * Dodie Bellamy - Author
 * Stephan Bonnar - UFC Ultimate Fighter
 * Jayne Boyd and Joan Boyd - original "Doublemint Twins" in ads for Doublemint gum
 * Darrel Chaney - baseball player
 * Denny Clanton - soccer player
 * Irv Cross, NFL player and commentator
 * Alberta Darling - Wisconsin state senator
 * Hal Faverty - NFL player
 * Danelle Folta - actress, model, Playboy April 1995 Playmate of the month
 * Dory Funk - professional wrestler fighting under both his real name and as "The Outlaw"
 * Terry Funk - professional wrestler and actor
 * George Groves - professional football player
 * Khari Jones - football player in the Canadian Football League, television commentator
 * Jeremy Jordan - actor, singer
 * Joseph F. Meyer - horticulturist, herbalist, founder of the Indiana Botanic Gardens
 * Fritz Pollard - born Chicago, first black NFL head coach for the now-defunct Hammond Pros
 * Alvah C. Roebuck - born Lafayette, Indiana, founded Sears, Roebuck and Company
 * Aaron Rosand - born in Hammond, prominent violin soloist and serves as the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair of Violin Studies at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, a position Rosand has held since 1981
 * Jordan Schafer - baseball player
 * Scott Sheldon - Major League Baseball player
 * Jean Shepherd - born Chicago, raised in Hammond, TV and radio personality, best known as writer and narrator of the film A Christmas Story (1983)
 * Bobby Skafish - Chicago radio personality
 * Glenn Michael Souther - US Navy defector to the Soviet Union
 * David Thompson - poet
 * Jimmy Valiant - professional wrestler
 * Lois V. Vierk - music composer of the post-minimalist and totalist schools
 * David Wilkerson - minister, evangelist and writer

Sister city

 * Galaţi, Romania (since 1997)