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Griffith, Indiana, a little more ...

Griffith is a town in Calumet and St. John townships, Lake County, Indiana. It is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area.

Griffith borders the town of Highland to the west, the city of Hammond to the northwest, the city of Gary to the northeast, the town of Schererville to the south, and unincorporated Calumet Township to the east.

Because of the large number of train tracks in the area — in its heyday, Griffith regularly saw more than 180 trains pass through its town boundaries — visionary pioneers and developers, brothers Jay and Elmer Dwiggins, had grand visions to create a factory town that would rival their big neighbor to the north, Chicago.

The area's excellence as a railroad junction brought in trains on the Michigan Central, Erie, Grand Trunk, Elgin Joliet & Eastern (EJ&E) and The Chesapeake & Ohio, with many going to and from Chicago. The junction promised much for a new town and at one point, the Dwiggins brothers even toyed with the idea of naming the area "Dwiggins Junction."

The rail connections attracted companies like "Pleasant Remedies," an ice plant, "The Pennsylvania Art Glass Company" and served as Lake County's grandest rail road crossing. Farmers in the area welcomed the train traffic as a way to ship milk and other agricultural products.

Unfortunately, because of the depression known in Griffith history as the "Panic of 1893," the Dwiggins brothers did not have the financial backing necessary to fulfill their visionary plans and Chicago still rivals Griffith as a factory town.

Griffith does, however, rival Chicago in TWO very distinct areas according to the Guinness Book of World Records:

1. Griffith has the most baseball diamonds for its population.
2. Griffith has the most train tracks to intersect at one point.

Additional information provided by: Wikipedia