The photo on the left was taken by O.W. Bodie from the fourth floor of the Indiana Hotel looking east on State Street towards Hohman Avenue, where Bodie had his photo studio.  Bodie was concerned with the traffic jams that resulted from the criss-cross of railroad lines in downtown Hammond, a common source of public complaining and aggravation with the downtown shopping district.

Eventually, albeit too late, the City of Hammond built overpasses to the railroad lines that ended up gutting the remaining retail stores. With all of the new construction, no one wanted to shop downtown Hammond when they could go to the new Woodmar Shopping Center and avoid the congestion.

(Source: O.W. Bodie, collection of plate glass negatives, Calumet Archives, Indiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana)

However, there is another social component that results from the traffic jams caused by the railroads as seen in the enlargement of the Bodie photo. Here you can see that the pushcart vendor has left his cart in the middle of State Street and is walking east toward Hohman Avenue.  Meanwhile, drivers are seen getting out of their cars and use the time to visit with friends and acquaintances who are also stopped in traffic. The Walgreen's delivery truck at center left uses the opportunity to make deliveries without fear of being run down by other cars and trucks.  Thus the traffic jams that people complained about may have served a social function by building a sense of community and consensus during the 1930s.  This social interaction disappeared when railroads no longer halted traffic and gave people a chance to visit with one another.

This unique photo also shows both the Hammond streetcar and the presence of a city bus, the passing of one form of transportation to another.

This high resolution photo from the 1930's, looks West on State Street. The building on the right is the US Courthouse, later to become known to most of us as "the downtown Post Office."  It was recently purchased by First Baptist Church who controls most of the property along State Street. The building in the center of the picture is the "Minas Furniture Company."  But it is NOT related to the E.C. Minas Company. E.C. Minas Company sued for infringement upon the Minas name and the building mysteriously caught fire and burned to the ground.