Highland, town, Lake County, northwestern Indiana, on the Little Calumet River, near Gary; settled 1847, incorporated 1910. A residential community in a highly industrialized region, the town was platted in 1882 and was named by railroad surveyors for a high sandy ridge along the old Calumet Beach Trail. Population 25,935 (1980); 23,696 (1990); 23,546 (2000).