The Times Media Company is a vital and integral part of the Northwest Indiana Region. We are the number one source of news and information and pledge to not only be the first to bring you news through our online platforms, but also to be the best at taking you deeper into the stories that matter in your lives through all our products. From our daily print newspaper to specialty publications to online and mobile sites we connect people with content that informs, entertains and engages; more than just local content, but content that is important to local people. The Times’ community includes seven counties in Northwest Indiana and the southeast Chicago suburbs. It is an area rich with ethnic heritage and abundant natural resources, including Lake Michigan, but rife with the problems of an urban area. It is a region of 51 towns and cities, each with its own government and schools, each with unique opportunities and problems. Steel is the region’s prime employer. The Times’ challenge is to serve such a diverse and balkanized community. It does so by producing nine daily geographically zoned editions, providing both a regional news report and the depth and flavor of a hometown newspaper. The Times’ franchise is local news, local advertising, and local community service. History of the community In the late 1800s, a sandy area along Lake Michigan south of Chicago gave way to development of "the Calumet Region." Beginning with U. S. Steel Corp. construction of steel mills in 1906, the Gary Land Co. was formed to design the area’s first town. Immigrants, mostly of eastern European origin, flocked there, now the city of Gary. Others followed, building steel mills, lumber yards, grain storage and ultimately refineries. As industry and business grew, the work force swelled and added communities developed. In time, a vast area south of Gary known as "the Grand Kankakee Marsh," a favorite hunting ground for Teddy Roosevelt, was drained to capture space for added housing and farms. History of the newspaper The Times of Northwest Indiana was founded on June 18, 1906, as The Lake County Times. Its founder, Simon McHie, was a native of a small town along the Niagara River in Canada. In 1933, the name of the newspaper was changed to The Hammond Times with its central mission to cover Hammond and its neighboring communities of East Chicago and Whiting with an afternoon daily newspaper. Its offices were located in downtown Hammond. Ownership of The Hammond Times continued in the McHie family until May 1962 when the newspaper was sold to Robert S. Howard, founder of Howard Publications. In 1967, with the addition of a south Lake County bureau, the newspaper’s name was changed to The Times. In 1989, the newspaper moved its offices to Munster, a suburb south of Hammond. Using new printing technologies and switching to morning publication, The Times began introduction of nine daily editions tailored