City Methodists Church is a ruin in Gary, Indiana that has stood in disuse for more than 7 decades. The church which was built in 1924 under the leadership of Pastor William Grant Seaman served for a very short time as a house of God before it was abandoned.

History of the once famous church

City Methodists Church also known as “City United Methodists Church” was built in 1924. Though the Methodist Church had been present in Gary since the beginning of the 19th century, small churches dominated. A need for a mega complex church was therefore a necessity. This prompted church leadership to build a larger church to accommodate the increased number of congregants. Groundbreaking was done in 1924, taking 21 months to complete. Inside the complex building was a gymnasium, dining hall, Sunday school, and a pool at the top. This made the church the largest in the Midwest. The construction capacity of the church was 1000 but the complex was able to squeeze in more than 1600 congregants. Closure For years, economic difficulties and bad management threatened the existence of the church.

This dwindled the population of the church as congregants began to leave the church. In the 1950s and 1960s, the white flight would also contribute to the large loss of congregants of City Methodist Church. It was also at this time that there was a high crime rate brought about by the decline in the economy. This too increased the rate of relocation of the locals leaving the church with less than 400 congregants by 1973. Due to the low number of congregants, in the massive church, the city Methodists church was shut down in 1975, and the building was sold to Indiana University.

What remains of the church?

City Methodists church has faced a whole lot of vandalism and fire outbreaks turning it into a ruin. Most of the furniture and other valuables have been looted and others destroyed beyond repair. Graffiti dominates both the interior and exterior walls of the building. The roof has since collapsed exposing the interior to further deterioration. Rumor has it that the church is used by drug dealers as a spot for their illegal businesses and transactions. Plans to put down the building have been for a while but implementation is yet to be launched.

City Methodists church has been reduced to a pile of hazardous ruin in the middle of the city. Being an old building, pillars and walls have weakened. The presence of asbestos is also a factor to take into consideration since the building was built in an era where asbestos was a common construction material. It is out of bound for locals due to safety and security reasons