The City of East Chicago was incorporated in 1893, the same year as the great Columbian Exhibition on the south side of Chicago. Born of railroad and steel, East Chicago was one of northwest Indiana's first truly industrial cities designed to meet the needs of workers and industry. The city was originally known as the Twin City, with the East Chicago (western section) separated from the Indiana Harbor section by a vast rail yard that served as the rail gateway to Chicago and the west.

During the peak of the great Industrial Revolution East Chicago was known as the most industrialized municipality and America's ultimate melting pot where four out of five of its citizens were foreign-born. It was during this period in our city's history that more than seventy nationalities, each with it's own ethnic based church, neighborhoods and stores, lived, worked and flourished for generations.

During World War I East Chicago was known as the "Arsenal of America" and as the noted South-Shore Railroad poster proclaimed, it was the "Workshop of America." The history of this great city can best be defined through the images and definitions of the City Seal and the flag of East Chicago