On Sunday March 8, 2013 tragedy struck in East Chicago, Indiana. I saw the heavy smoke several miles away and decided to go see what was going on. I shot a series of photograph about this fire. This building housed many small businesses and agencies. It occupied almost the entire block bound by Chicago Ave, Railroad Ave, Exchange St and Tod St. Buildings on the corner of Tod and Chicago were not affected and still stand.
Back in the 1960's, there was a rail line into the back of the building. I don't know if the box cars were loaded or unloaded there but I do remember seeing the movement of the box cars in and out of the building.
On the anniversary of the fire, on Facebook, Jesse Gomez posted this photo showing the fire though the windows.