East Chicago, IN Road Trips
Plan drives from East Chicago, IN with practical route pages for distance, drive time, fuel cost, road character, and places to stop along the way.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Trip Routes
3
Longest Drive
265.6 mi
Saint John, IN
Quickest Drive
3h 59m
Bloomington, IN
Plan Around East Chicago, IN
Popular Incoming Routes
Useful if East Chicago, IN is the arrival point and you want the strongest routes into the city first.
Continue From East Chicago, IN
Good next legs if this city is only one stop in a longer road trip.
Trips from East Chicago, IN
East Chicago, IN by the Numbers
Recent demographic snapshot from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
Population
26,158
Median Income
$41,071
Median Home Value
$92,400
Median Age
36.5
Source: US Census Bureau ACS 5-year (public domain). See our methodology for details.
East Chicago, IN at a Glance
Founded
1893
Elevation
591 ft
Area
16 mi²
Notable People from East Chicago, IN
A sampling of people born in East Chicago, IN.
Gregg Popovich
1949
American basketball coach
Betsy Palmer
1926–2015
American actress (1926–2015)
Vince Boryla
1927–2016
American basketball player, coach, and executive (1927–2016)
Junior Bridgeman
1953–2025
American basketball player and businessman
E'Twaun Moore
1989
American basketball player
David Albin Zywiec Sidor
1947–2020
American bishop (1947-2020)
Mary Beth Edelson
1933–2021
American artist (1933–2021)
John Hubbard
1914–1988
American television and film actor (1914-1988)
Alexander Vraciu
1918–2015
US Navy World War II fighter ace
City data from Wikidata (Q599694), available under CC0. Photos from Wikimedia Commons under their respective licenses. See our methodology for details.
Traveler Guide to East Chicago, IN
East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, and a suburb of Chicago. East Chicago had its start in 1893, and, with the arrival of Inland Steel in 1903, it soon became the most industrialized city in America, with some 80% of the area relegated to heavy industry. Other firms like Republic Steel, Youngstown Steel, LaSalle Steel, and U.S. Steel began operations too, pushing out some 600,000 tons of steel in 1914 and 8.6 million tons at peak capacity in 1978. Refineries and plants lined the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal that connected the Grand Calumet River to Lake Michigan. The downside of all this was substantial pollution such as lead, resulting in the town becoming a Superfund site. Then the steel crisis of the 1970s happen, and unemployment and depopulation skyrocketed. These events transformed East Chicago into the emerging more diversified community that it is today.
1 Marktown Park, 412 Grove St. Here you can see the remnants of Clayton Mark's planned worker community from 1917 to house workers of the Mark Manufacturing Company, in its shabby state since it was abandoned when things went south in the city, so much different from the pristine state when the architect Howard Van Doren Shaw designed it. It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Due care and vigilance are recommended if visiting due to the depressed nature and heightened crime of the area. (updated Nov 2021)
1 Jeorse Park Beach, 3301 Aldis Ave, ☏ +1 219 391-8482. Daily 10AM-9PM. This is great if you like urban beaches next to steel mills. Actually, it's not so bad, as Lake Michigan's allure manages to compensate for some of the grit. You can also step out here from the casino if you've just lost your paycheck at the tables and need to recoop. (updated Nov 2021)
1 Ameristar Casino Hotel East Chicago, 777 Ameristar Blvd, ☏ +1 219-378-3000. Check-in: 4PM, check-out: 11AM. Variety of amenities including deep soaking tubs and glass enclosed showers. Choice of a single king-sized or a pair of queen-sized beds. Hotel directly connected with 56,000-square-foot riverboat casino - which has four playing levels, 1,800 slots and video poker games and 50 table games - and a pavilion with a sports book. A 24-hour fitness center is also available. (updated Aug 2024)
There are direct commuter trains from Chicago via the South Shore Line. 1 East Chicago railway station, 5615 Indianapolis Blvd. (updated Nov 2020)
Travel tips adapted from East Chicago on Wikivoyage, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Content summarized; visit the source for the full article. See our methodology for how we use it.
Trips to East Chicago, IN
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