An Illinois native from Wheaton, Elbert Henry Gary
graduated first in his class from the Union College of Law (later
Northwestern University School of Law) in 1868. As a county judge
in DuPage County, and through his legal work, Gary became interested
in the steel-making process. With the encouragement of J. P. Morgan,
Gary founded the United States Steel Corporation in 1901. In 1920,
after cooperating with President Theodore Roosevelt on antitrust
negotiations, he won a Supreme Court case against the government.
He opposed collective bargaining but encouraged his employees to
purchase stock in the company. The city of Gary, Indiana, which
US Steel laid out, was named in his honor.
