Indiana City Named One of the Ugliest in America

One Indiana city recently was named one of the ugliest in America, and I'll give you one guess.

Here in Indiana, we have a lot of beautiful scenery. We have quite a few larger lakes that you could just admire for hours, beautiful state parks, and so many cute small towns. Not to mention, we have cities with fun things to do for the whole family. When taking all of the cities and towns that we have in Indiana, you might first think about some of the more fun or beautiful towns that you have visited. However, for this article's sake, we will go down a different route.

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The website, Travel A Lot, recently posted an article featuring the ugliest city in each state. So, what constitutes as "ugly"? They say that whether it's from a lack of maintenance or just poor design choices, these cities are quite the eyesore. Travel A Lot based their choices on reviews by local residents on sites like Niche and Reddit.

The Ugliest City in Indiana is...

If you guessed Gary, you would be correct. A lot has changed with the city of Gary, Indiana since it was once praised in the classic musical "The Music Man."

Here's what Travel A Lot had to say about the birthplace of Michael Jackson, Gary, Indiana:

All we know about Gary, Indiana we learned from The Music Man, so we didn't realize that some people had such strong, negative feelings against this midwestern city. However, some people seem to think that there's one thing that Gary is seriously lacking in: color. "Gary, Indiana. The entire city was gray. No color. I thought I had gone colorblind until I got to Chicago." This guy doesn't mince words, and, no matter how you feel about Gary, Indiana, you have to admit that was a pretty solid joke.

We all have heard some not-so-pleasant things about Gary over the years, so I am not surprised by these findings. The question here is what can be done to fix the city's reputation and turn things around for the better?

You can take a look at the full list from Travel A Lot by clicking here.

16 Indiana Towns with Dirty-Sounding Names

A majority of these towns were given their names in the mid-to-late 1800s as settlers making their way across the country found unclaimed plots of land and decided to make them their own. While I imagine they thought the names they came up with were innocent, and perhaps a tribute to something in their lives, pop culture has warped our minds to the point since then that we can't help but think of something about the town that was never intended by its founders. Take a look at this list. I guarantee there's at least one name that will make you chuckle.

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan

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KEEP READING: 40 Real Indiana Towns with Quirky, Weird, and Funny Names

Outside the major cities, the Hoosier state is full of tiny little towns you've probably passed through on your way to one of those cities. Most of them are likely 100 to 150 years old, or older, and have been around far longer than the large metropolitan areas such as Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend, and Evansville. Typically, they were started by early settlers who found their way to the state and decided to make it home. Eventually, others would join them, and a community was formed. Over time, as the surrounding areas grew, most of them were folded into those areas and governed by the nearest city or county's governing body officially making them "unincorporated," meaning they did not have their own formally organized municipal government.

A scroll through Wikipedia's long list of unincorporated communities in Indiana shows several of them have names that by today's standards would be considered weird, quirky, or just downright right funny. These are my 40 favorities.

Gallery Credit: Ryan O'Bryan

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