Click on an icon, then click “Learn more” to view a profile of each property, featuring images, description, and history. Scroll below the map to view a list of all properties.
Maher’s Works in Gary, Indiana
Like many architects and other professionals of his day, George W. Maher belonged to, and was active in many clubs and societies. His formative years spent in southern Indiana are what likely led him to, or at least made him eligible to, join the Indiana Society of Chicago, where we find him in their membership rolls as early as 1911. The organization is still active today, originally founded “with the goal of celebrating the uniqueness of being a Hoosier – whether native or adopted – to promote understanding of Indiana’s rich history and its significant place in the history of the United States.”
As a growing economic center for the state at the time, members of Gary’s elite business community were also involved in the Indiana Society. We believe the relationships he made through his membership in the Society – along with his impressive resume – led to his and his son Philip’s Gary commissions. In 1921, ten years after we first found George Maher listed as an Indiana Society member, he received one of the first of 6 commissions: the Clubhouse for the Riverside Park Golf Course – later renamed Gleason Park in memoriam of William P. Gleason, a former superintendent of the Indiana Steel Corporation’s Gary Works.