Image above: Sign for the Pullman National Monument. Courtesy National Park Service/Scarlett Farley.
Spotlight on Lesser Known History
Pullman National Monument, Illinois
America's Best History Spotlight
On this page we're going to Spotlight the lesser known historic sites and attractions that dot the history landscape across the USA and are worth a visit if you're in their area. And while they may be lesser known, some are very unique, and will be that rare find. You'll be, at times, on the ground floor, or maybe even know something others don't. It'll be fun. Visit them.
Pullman National Monument, Illinois
It was a model industrial town, centered around the Pullman Palace Car Company founded by George M. Pullman on May 26, 1880. It was built on four thousand acres along Lake Calumet to be one of the most desirable industrial towns with buildings of brick. One thousand structures, including houses with gas, water, and other facilities, and the factory were built by 1884. There were parks, stables, the Hotel Florence, and all were powered by steam generated by the Corliss Engine, made famous at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876.
Image above: Pullman National Monument Visitor Center and former Administration Building. Courtesy National Park Service/Jeff Brown.
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Info, What's There Now, History Nearby
Pullman National Monument, Illinois
At the time of its construction, the Pullman Factory and town were the envy of most. It had a reflecting pond, Lake Vista, in front of the Administration and Clock Tower. The factory built some of the most elaborate train cars that would ride the continent from New York to San Francisco. However, George Pullman was a hard man; he did not live in the town he constructed, but in a posh neighborhood elsewhere in Chicago. As with many of these industrial revolution companies, when times changed, it fell into disrepair. In 1991, the Adminstration Building and Clock Tower were rescued by the State of Illinois. In 2015, President Barack Obama, through the Antiquities Act, made it a National Monument, the first in Chicago. It has since been upgraded to a National Historical Site. Oh, semantics.
Image above: Pullman Palace Car Company Administration Building, date and author unknown. Courtesy National Park Service via the Chicago Public Library. Below: Pullman rail strikers on the south side of the Pullman Arcade Building versus Illinois National Guard troops, 1894, Pullman Company Staff. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons via Pullman Museum.
Where Is It
Pullman National Monument is located at 610 E. 111th Street, Chicago, IL 60628. It is not situated in the best section of town, so a daytime visit is suggested. With the National Monument status, the area is starting to be a little more safe, but take care.
What is There Now
Pullman National Monument
The Visitor Center is located in the iconic Administration Building/Clock Tower Building of the Pullman Palace Car Company. It has interpretation, exhibits, and guided tours emanating from there. There are other buildings associated with the factory that dot the site, however, many of those are in disrepair. However, the long linear site includes several other museums, the Historic Pullman Foundation and the HPF Exhibit Hall (free with tours available for a fee), the National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum, and the The Bielenberg Historic Pullman House Foundation. Also inside the boundaries are some of the homes of Pullman Town; most of these are private residences. Just outside the boundaries are the Greenstone Church and Market Hall.
When Open and How Much
The Visitor Center is open daily, Wednesday to Sunday, from 9:00 am or 10 am, depending on the season, until 4 pm. It is closed on various Federal holidays, but is open on Washington's Birthday and Martin Luther King Day. There is no fee for Pullman National Monument itself. However, the partner museums do have charges.
Fees and hours are subject to change.
Website
Pullman National Monument
National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum
Historic Pullman Foundation
Pullman at Home/Bielenberg Historic Pullman House Foundation
History Nearby
The entire city of Chicago is replete with historic and famous attraction, but somehow, the Pullman National Monument was the first National Park Service site. Of course, there are the well known stadiums; Soldier Field, Wrigley Field, and whatever they are now calling new Comiskey Park. The Field Museum is a remnant of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and for fun, there is Navy Pier.
Photos, History, and More Spotlights
History of Pullman Palace Car Company
George M. Pullman was an engineer and industrialist, who had made his fortune by developing a method to raise buildings to allow for better sanitation. He founded the Pullman Palace Car Company in 1880 and built his flagship industrial town and factories. One of his greatest achievements was designing the Pullman sleeping cars which made long distance train travel more tolerable. These cars were serviced by the Pullman Porters, a hired group of employees from the black community. There was great demand for his cars, and the industrial town and factories would provide them for the various railroads that crossed through Chicago. By 1883, over eight thousand people would live or work there.
George Pullman would state in 1882, "Capital will not invest in sentiment, nor for sentimental considerations for the laboring class. But let it once be proved that enterprises of this kind are safe and profitable and we shall see great manufacturing companies develop similar enterprises, and thus a new era will be introduced in the history of labor."
By 1888, Pullman's vision was being challenged by the Chicago papers, stating that there was a dark side to this opulent enterprise. That would lead to the labor strife that exploded in 1894. Cars and aviation would quiet Pullman town by reducing the need for train transportation. The factory closed in 1957.
Photo above: Pullman Palace Car Company workers leaving their shift, 1893, The Story of Pullman. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons.
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History of the Workers
While the workers, both at the factory and on the Palace Cars that rode the various railroads, many housed in Pullman town, with amenities that other industrial or mining towns did not enjoy. However, George Pullman ran the town like a hard warden, and the rent he charged the workers for their homes was high. This brought, within ten years, much dissension between labor and management. When the economic depression of 1893 hit, the workers were squeezed by the low pay and high charges.
This culmated in the Pullman Strike. Read the magnificent article by colleague Jason Donovan there. It ended in violence when Federal troops became involved, sent by President Grover Cleveland.
Image above: Pullman Palace Car Porter. Courtesy National Park Service.
Other Museums/Sites at Pullman National Monument
National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum is located at 10406 South Maryland Avenue and honors the Black history of the porters who managed the train cars made at Pullman. Asa Philip Randolph and the other Pullman Porters formed a Union here, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP). It was the first African American Union recognized by the American Federation of Labor. And for the first time, this African American Union won a collective bargaining agreement. Yes, with the Pullman Palace Car Company. There are exhibits here, but it is temporarily closed for renovation.
Hotel Florence is a fifty room hotel built by the Pullman Palace Car Company and named for his daughter on November 1,1881. It is twenty-three thousand square feet of former Victorian opulence, and is now under restoration. Cost $100,000 to build; of course the estimate to restore is much larger.
Pullman House Project Tours are held by the Bielenberg Historic Pullman House Foundation. They include (for a fee) tours of the Pullman Town neighborhood and several restored houses. Tours begin at their Welcome Center, One Florence Boulevard, which also includes the Pullman Coffee Shop. Their tours take you around various sites of the park, and take you inside the superintendent's house, the Dunbar House. An extended tour is also available which escorts you through other homes.
Photo above: Hotel Florence, named after the daughter of George Pullman, 1901, Detroit Publishing Company. Courtesy Library of Congress. Below: Headquarters/Welcome Center and one of the homes in Pullman town, now housing the Historic Pullman House Foundation. Courtesy National Park Service/Owen Miller-Dye.
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