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==History== ===Early settlement=== Originally inhabited by the [[Potawatomi]] and generations of indigenous ancestors, Lake County was established by European Americans on February 16, 1837.<ref name=estdate/> From 1832 to 1836 the area that was to become Lake County was part of [[La Porte County]].<ref name=schoon>Kenneth J. Schoon (2003). ''Calumet Beginnings: Ancient Shorelines and Settlements at the South End of Lake Michigan''. Indiana: Indiana University Press. pps. 20-23.</ref> From 1836 to 1837 it was part of [[Porter County]].<ref name=schoon/> It was named for its location on [[Lake Michigan]].<ref>{{cite book|author=De Witt Clinton Goodrich & Charles Richard Tuttle|publisher=R. S. Peale & Co.|year=1875|location=Indiana|title=An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana|url=https://archive.org/details/anillustratedhi02tuttgoog| page=[https://archive.org/details/anillustratedhi02tuttgoog/page/n567 565]}}</ref> The original county seat was [[Liverpool, Indiana|Liverpool]], but in 1840 Lake Court House, later renamed as Crown Point, was chosen.<ref>{{cite book|author=William Frederick Howat|publisher=Lewis Publishing Company|year=1915|location=Chicago|title=A Standard History of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet Region, Volume 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NkPWAAAAMAAJ&q=editions%3Artn_UNMRTgQC&pg=PA100| page=44}}</ref> Lake County's population grew slowly before the 1850s. Construction of railroads to link [[Chicago]] to the rest of the country stimulated rapid development, and tens of thousands of settlers and immigrants bought land in the region. Small-scale industrialization began, but was primarily relegated to the northern coast of the county, where it could take advantage of the railroads along the coast and shipping on the Great Lakes. The 1900 Census gives a population of 37,892 residents. ===Industrialization and immigration=== [[Inland Steel Company]] established a plant in East Chicago in 1903 and [[U.S. Steel]] founded one in Gary in 1906; with industrial jobs the demand for labor associated with industrial jobs, the county's population exploded. Immigrants poured into the area from all over Central and Eastern Europe (there was also a smaller Mexican immigrant community). In addition, both black and white migrants came from many regions of the United States, particularly [[Appalachia]] and the South. Mostly rural blacks went north in the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]], seeking both industrial jobs and escape from [[Jim Crow]] violence and disenfranchisement in the South. By 1930, Lake County's population surpassed 260,000, with first- and second-generation Americans constituting a majority of the population. The second wave of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] gained a large following here in the 1920s, as it did for a time in the rest of Indiana. The KKK organized against the numerous European immigrants, who were mostly Catholic. While the steel industry reigned supreme, other industries also found the county to be an ideal location for cheap land and well-developed transportation networks, such as automobiles, oil, chemicals, consumer goods, food processing, and construction supply companies.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |title=Lake County, IN |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/707.html |website=Encyclopedia of Chicago |publisher=Chicago History Museum |access-date=October 3, 2018}}</ref> The [[Great Depression]] was devastating to Lake County, as it was to other areas with economies based on [[heavy industry]]. The Depression, combined with industrial strife, changing demographics, and unionization, caused a realignment of politics in Lake County. It became a stronghold of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]; Lake County has supported the Democratic nominee for president in every election since 1932 (exceptions occurred in 1956 and 1972). [[Indiana's 1st congressional district]] has elected Democratic candidates in every election since 1930. [[World War II]] restored prosperity, as industry revived to support the war effort. Good economic times continued into the 1970s. During this period, unions helped industrial workers gain middle-class wages. In addition to attracting refugees and immigrants from Europe, [[black Americans]] and Mexicans migrated here in the postwar period in even higher numbers than in the 1910-1930 period. As minority populations exploded in such industrial cities as East Chicago and Gary, racial tensions surfaced again. Following construction of state and federal highways, development of cheaper land provided newer housing to middle-class people who could afford it. Both [[white flight|whites]] and established black families moved out of the aging industrial cities.<ref name="auto"/> ===Recent history=== Lake County's population peaked at 546,000 in 1970. Severe industrial decline took place during the 1973-1991 period, brought on by foreign competition, new management philosophies that called for major workforce reductions, and productivity gains from technology. The decline was particularly intense in the steel industry: steel employment exceeded 60,000 in the 1960s, and declined progressively to just 18,000 by 2015. Lake County's population declined 13% to bottom out at 475,000 in 1990. The industrial decline of the 1980s cast a long shadow over Lake County: the county did not regain the level of employment it had in 1980 until 1996, after which the employment level roughly flatlined. The county's economic output peaked in 1978, and has not since recovered, remaining 15-20% below the peak after adjusting for inflation. As prosperity declined, so did the immigration that powered the county's explosive population growth before 1950: per the 2000 census, only 5.3% of Lake County's residents were foreign-born, compared to over 11% for the United States as a whole.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |title=Northwest Indiana Regional Analysis: Demographics, Economy, Entrepreneurship and Innovation |url=http://cua6.urban.csuohio.edu/publications/center/center_for_economic_development/Northwest_Indiana_Consolidated_Final.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325095244/http://cua6.urban.csuohio.edu/publications/center/center_for_economic_development/Northwest_Indiana_Consolidated_Final.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 25, 2016 |publisher=Cleveland State University |access-date=October 5, 2018 }}</ref> The population recovered somewhat during the 1990s and 2000s, as the local economy adjusted. Suburban growth has also been driven by commuter populations of workers who are employed in Chicago and commute via expressways or the [[South Shore Line]]. In 2007, it was estimated that 44,000 workers commuted from Lake County, Indiana, to Chicago for work.<ref name="auto1" /> The decline of industrial cities and growth of suburbs has been so sharp, that by 1990 a majority of the county's population lived outside of the four traditional industrial cities. Lake County still continues to struggle with urban decline and poverty, suburban sprawl and traffic jams, and a stagnating population.<ref name="auto"/>
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