Lost Structures of
East Chicago, Indiana
1st National Bank & Trust Co. Building
Note: his building has now been
demolished and replaced with a Walgreens, despite the fact that there
were and are numerous available vacant lots on the street.
JOHN
DILLINGER! The very name conjures up images of
black-and-white newsreels, of vintage automobile chases, of suspense
and intrigue.
Paroled in May 1933, Dillinger formed a gang and set out to rob banks.
Captured four months later, he was rescued by gang members. After
robberies in several states, he was arrested in Arizona, returned to
Indiana and jailed at the Crown
Point Jail. He executed a famous escape (using a gun carved
from wood--not soap!) on Mar. 3, 1934, and continued his bank
robberies. In this year, he robbed East Chicago's 1st
National Bank & Trust Co.,* the subject of this page.
The object of a massive manhunt by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI), he was lured to the Biograph Theater in
Chicago (now a national landmark) on July 22, 1934, by Anna Sage, the
mysterious so-called Lady in Red. There FBI agents gunned him down
.
*Source of
information: Lake County Interim Report, Indiana Historic Sites and
Structures Inventory by Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana.
(Information on
Dillinger from Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia 1998 for Macintosh ©
1997 The Learning Company, Inc.)
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