Evan Addison, a Steel City Academy student and Rev. Dwight Gardner plant a ceremonial tree.

Green space grows at old Bear Brand stocking factory

Contributed By:The 411 News

Thursday’s celebration at the now named Bear Brand Greening Site brought together the City of Gary and its partners who are creating a cleaner future for the 6-acre site. The green space growing at the old Bear Brand Hosiery Factory shows how Gary is reclaiming land used by the factory from 1922 to 1965, when it closed.

For Carolyn Rogers, 4th District Councilwoman, Thursday meant a goal accomplished. Rogers is serving her last year in office and has worked to improve the site since her election in 2000. “We’ve come a long way since then. We now have wild flowers and native plants improving the soil, making it safe for future residential or commercial development. One day these plants will complete their work and this piece of Gary will be open to the dreams of the community.”

The factory had been abandoned, left to deteriorate and rot until it was demolished at taxpayer’s cost in 2011. At that time, Mayor Rudy Clay thought the vacant land would be prime for redevelopment. It was in the heart of the city, near 21st Avenue and Massachusetts. Later, soil testings showed high levels of contaminants, identified by the EPA as harmful to human health, putting another use in doubt.

Dyes, thinners, glues, acids, and chemicals were used in the manufacturing process. Back then, disposal of waste products were not regulated as they are now and possibly discharged on the property.

Bill Schleizer is CEO of the Delta Institute, the company that helped clear debris from the land after the demolition and next planted young trees. “When we planted them, they were just twigs; now they are over 8-feet tall.

As those trees grow, they are helping to remove toxins from the soils through the process of “phytoremediation.” Enzymes in the trees’ roots can degrade or make the pollutants and contaminants in the soils less toxic.

“I like to think about these trees and plants as being like the community, the deeper the roots, the stronger we are,” Schleizer said.

Rev. Dwight Gardner, pastor at the nearby Trinity MB Church, said improvements at the Bear Brand site answered the community’s calls for environmental justice. “There is no longer a polluted factory here, thanks to Councilwoman Rogers. We only got this far because the community cared.”

“Our neighborhood has high levels of unemployment and poverty; poor health compounds those issues,” Rev. Gardner said. “For these residents, health concerns and environmental concerns are very much the same thing because they lived so close to an abandoned hazardous waste site.”

The green space occupies the perimeter of the old Bear Brand property along 21st Avenue.

Tree planting began in 2017. Another of the city’s partners, Greenprint Communities will provide long-term maintenance on the site, testing soil and tree quality. At the end of the 15-year project, Gary’s Redevelopment Commission will re-evaluate potential uses for the property.


Greenprint Communities’ Kyla Donato with murals painted by local artists

Story Posted:11/12/2019