East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,698 at the 2010 census. It is the home of Marktown, Clayton Mark's planned worker community.
The land that became East Chicago was originally swampland unsuitable for farming. The state of Indiana began selling off plots of land to railroads and speculators after 1851 to fund the local school system. Settlement of the area was very slow at first, and as late as the 1890s, the city had no proper streets or public utilities. East Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1893. The city was named from its location east of Chicago, Illinois