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Photograph of Louis J. Bailey Branch Library
Photograph by Nyttend, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Louis J. Bailey Branch Library-Gary International Institute

Built in 1918 (Colonial Revival architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

From the record

“Bailey Branch Library is a historic Carnegie library building located at Gary, Indiana. It was built in 1918, and is a one-story, Colonial Revival style brick building on a raised basement.”

Wikipedia article Louis J. Bailey Branch Library, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 88 National Register listings published here for Lake County · listed in 2004 · category: Building · built in 1918, Colonial Revival architecture.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Listed as. Bailey, Louis J., Branch Library--Gary International Institute - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
  • Address. 1501 W. Madison St., Gary, 46407
  • When was it listed? September 2004
  • Category. building
  • Township. Calumet township
  • When was it built? 1918
  • Architectural style. Colonial Revival architecture
  • National Register reference number. 04001102 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

378 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 378 fires within 5 miles of Louis J. Bailey Branch Library-Gary International Institute between 1992 and 2020, burning about 6,057 acres in total. 11 started naturally. 43 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Railroad operations and maintenance139
Missing data/not specified/undetermined82
Debris and open burning52
Arson/incendiarism43
Misuse of fire by a minor22
Natural11
Fireworks10
Equipment and vehicle use8
Recreation and ceremony5
Other causes4
Smoking2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
5 September 1995Railroad operations and maintenance7.0 acresIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreTENNESSEE
5 September 1995Railroad operations and maintenance53 acresIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreMANY
26 September 1995Arson/incendiarism2.1 acresIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreDIAMOND
19 September 1999Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreBUFFALO
16 September 2001Debris and open burningunder an acreIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreLIBERTY
10 September 2007Debris and open burning20 acresIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreLAKE STREET
9 August 1999Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreIndiana Dunes National LakeshoreNEW HIRE
8 August 1999Debris and open burningunder an acreIndiana Dunes National Lakeshore1-5

Every fire recorded in Lake County

Mines and quarries near this property

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Louis J. Bailey Branch Library-Gary International Institute: 1 past producer, 1 plant, 1 producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Sulfur, Limestone, General. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Buffington Lime PlantLimestone, GeneralProducer
Dean H. Mitchell Generating StationSulfurPlant
Samoki Brothers Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Lake County

Storms near this property

29 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gary, the town this property stands in, in 29 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 19 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 3 lightning, 1 rip current. The reports record 1 death and 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2001Rip CurrentGary1 killedno account filed
May 2007LightningGary1 hurtA 15 year old boy was standing near a tree when it was struck by lightning. The teenager received burns on his back. His clothes and shoes were ripped off. A relative standing near the teenager said she saw blue light reflected off of him.
September 2013LightningGary$75,000A house at 1180 Jefferson Court was struck by lightning starting a fire which engulfed about 50 percent of the home. An adult and a 9-month-old child were home at the time of the fire. The adult was killed and the baby was in critical condition as it was transported to the hospital. An investigator said that there were no signs that the adult had been struck by lightning and that they died due to smoke inhalation.
May 2007Thunderstorm WindGary$60,000Fifteen large pine trees were uprooted at the Indiana University Northwest campus in Gary. Some of the trees fell on several cars. Windows in some buildings were also blown out.
July 2006LightningGary$50,000A home near 48th Place and Whitcomb Street in Calumet Township was struck by lightning, which started a fire on the second floor. Two bedrooms, a bathroom and the attic were gutted.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindEast Gary$25,000A large pine tree was uprooted and fell onto a home near the intersection of Warrick Street and Central Avenue.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindGary$5,000Trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down across many areas in northeast Lake County.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindGary-Minor structural and tree damage was found along 20th Pl just east of Ernie Pyle Elementary School.
March 2025Tornado (EF0)Gary-A tornado touched down near Norton Park, just south of West 13th Avenue in Gary. This brief tornado blew tree debris across roadways and uprooted several small trees east of the Gary Business District with estimated winds of 70 mph. The tornado dissipated around MLK Drive, just north of East 7th Avenue before reaching the Dunes Highway.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindGary-Structural damage was found on a home near 8th Ave and Harrison St.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindGary-A large tree limb snapped along 17th Ave near McKinley St.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindGary-Lake County EMA reported power poles snapped in Gary.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindGary-Large trees and numerous tree limbs were blown down in Gary.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindGary-Wind gusts to 70 mph were estimated near downtown Gary.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindGary-Estimated gust to 60 mph in downtown Gary.
September 2007Thunderstorm WindGary-Wind gusts were estimated to 60 mph.
March 2004Thunderstorm WindGary-Large tree down.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindGary-Trees, limbs and power lines were reported down.
September 2002Thunderstorm WindGary-Trees blown down.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindGary-A cooperative observer at Trump Casino at Buffington Harbor in Gary recorded a 58 mph wind gust.
June 1995HailGary-Golf ball- to ping-pong ball-size hail fell at Hammond. Half an inch to three-quarters inch hail and 54 mph winds occurred at Gary Airport. Tree limbs and power lines were downed throughout the northern part of the county.
July 2015HailGary-no account filed
August 2014Thunderstorm WindGary-no account filed
June 2013HailGary-no account filed
September 2009HailGary-no account filed
June 2008HailGary-no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindGary-no account filed
August 2000Thunderstorm WindGary-no account filed
April 1997Thunderstorm WindGary-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Lake County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Andrew Means Park Manor Historic District0.4 miles2024
Theodore Roosevelt High School0.6 miles2012
Gary Public Schools Memorial Auditorium0.8 miles1994
Carolyn Mosby Senior High Rise0.8 miles2022
Gary City Center Historic District0.9 miles1994
Polk Street Concrete Cottage Historic District0.9 miles2011

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 04001102 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Lake CountyAll 88 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.