East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,698 at the 2010 census. It is the home of Marktown, Clayton Mark's planned worker community.HistoryA post office called East Chicago has been in operation since 1889. The city was named from its location east of Chicago, Illinois.The Indiana Harbor Public Library and Marktown Historic District are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.For 105 years, East Chicago was home to the Inland Steel Company (1893-1998).In 2009, parts of East Chicago were discovered to have toxic lead and arsenic contamination, designated the USS Lead Superfund Site. The Superfund site is divided into three zones, with public housing and residential properties. Residents' decades-long concerns about lead contamination were confirmed in 2016 via EPA testing, especially affecting over 270 families in the West Calumet Housing Complex. As Governor of Indiana, Vice-President Mike Pence declined to declare the Superfund site a state emergency; his successor Governor Eric Holcomb has issued Executive Order 17-13, declaring a disaster emergency in East Chicago.GeographyAccording to the 2010 census, East Chicago has a total area of 16.155sqmi, of which 14.09sqmi (or 87.22%) is land and 2.065sqmi (or 12.78%) is water.
