1851Education
The state of Indiana began selling off plots of land to railroads and speculators after 1851 to fund the local school system.
1893Government
East Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1893.
1903Economy
From 60,000 tons of steel capacity in 1903, it expanded to 600,000 tons by 1914 and reached 1 million in 1917, and eventually peaked at 8.6 million tons in 1978.
1907Infrastructure
By 1907, East Chicago boasted a navigable waterway link to Lake Michigan and to the Grand Calumet River: the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal.
1917Military
=== World War I to the present ===
During the 1910s, several thousand Mexicans immigrated to East Chicago to work in the mills during the labor shortage of 1917–1918 due to U.S.
1919Military
participation in World War I, and also acted as strike breakers during labor unrest in 1919.
1932Infrastructure
The small Mexican community was targeted for voluntary and forced repatriation during the 1930s and 1950s (1,800 were deported in 1932 alone), but those who remained eventually ...
1959History
According to a city demographic survey in 1959, there were 1,000 Mexican families and 10,000 African American families, along with 3,000 Polish families.
1960History
The city continued to rapidly grow in the 1910s and 1920s, and the population peaked in 1960 at 57,669.
1969Disaster
Employment at Inland Steel peaked at 25,000 in 1969, and successive layoffs over the next 30 years were devastating to the community; by 1998, only 9,000 were employed at Inland...
1970History
East Chicago's population plunged to 47,000 in 1970, 34,000 by 1990, and 29,000 by 2010.
1974Disaster
It was the Steel crisis of the 1974-1986 period that completely devastated East Chicago, as it did other industrial cities like Gary, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and the south side o...
1997Architecture
The Showboat Casino opened in 1997 with about 900 employees.
1998History
Inland Steel was acquired by Ispat International in 1998.
2000History
=== 2000 census ===
As of the census of 2000, there were 32,414 people, 11,707 households, and 7,937 families residing in the city.
2004Economy
Both the Indiana Harbor mill and Youngstown Steel mill were absorbed and merged by ArcelorMittal in 2004 and subsequently sold to Cleveland-Cliffs in 2020.
2009Culture
In 2009, parts of East Chicago were discovered to have toxic lead and arsenic contamination, designated the USS Lead Superfund Site.
2016History
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.
2020History
== Demographics ==
=== 2020 census ===
=== 2010 census ===
As of the census of 2010, there were 29,698 people, 10,724 households, and 7,197 families residing in the city.