Few Gary residents have any memory of Eugene J. Buffington other than to recognize the name from the Gary harbor and park dedicated to him. At the turn of the twentieth century, when United States Steel Corporation decided to build an integrated, state-of-the art plant (Gary Works) on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, Eugene Buffington played a central role during its planning stages. Determined to avoid pitfalls encountered by palace car magnate George M. Pullman after he established the company town of Pullman, Illinois, Buffington opted not to have the corporation provide housing for steelworkers, preferring to sell plots of land through a subsidiary, the Gary Land Company. In 1909 Buffington asserted: “Gary is nothing more than the product of effort along practical line to secure right living conditions around a steel-manufacturing plant.” Unfortunately, Steel officials failed to pay the majority of its work force a living wage; hence, a home ownership on Gary’s northside was beyond the means of unskilled immigrant laborers. Furthermore, residents suffered from pollution from the mill and had very limited access to Lake Michigan or public recreational space. Two exceptions were Buffington Park at Seventh and Connecticut east of Broadway and Jefferson Park on the westside – both rumored to attract gay men.