I had been planning a trip to Pullman, one of Chicago’s 77 designated neighborhoods, this summer. As is the case every year, June slipped into August without my accomplishing all I had set out to do. With just a day left, I decided to make the trip to Pullman, with the Pullman National Monument as the draw. Rather than drive, I chose rail, which seemed appropriate given Pullman’s place in railroad history—Metra’s Electric Line stops at 111th Street Station, just west of the site on Cottage Grove Avenue.

Opening events for the long-planned national monument were scheduled all weekend, but Labor Day made the most sense for a visit. Appropriately, the Monument was officially dedicated today, with Governor J.B. Pritzker, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Senator Dick Durbin, Ninth Ward Alderman Anthony Beale, and United States Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in attendance for the ribbon cutting.

Labor Day’s Significance. More importantly, on June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed legislation designating the first Monday in September as a national holiday honoring labor. The legislation was an attempt (less charitably, a sop) to calm the turmoil surrounding a strike that began in Pullman and quickly spread to 26 other states. That strike eventually included 250,000 workers affiliated with the American Railway Workers Union (ARU). They shut down rail traffic throughout much of the Midwest and West (all traffic west of Detroit) out of sympathy with the Pullman workers (who were not members of the all-white ARU). The strike was of particular concern to the federal government because it impeded mail delivery.

The Early History. The neighborhood’s namesake, George Mortimer Pullman, developed the railroad sleeping car in 1864, revolutionizing rail travel. What better “product launch” than to have President Lincoln’s casket transported in a Pullman car from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Illinois for burial just a year after the company’s founding? (The actual incorporation apparently occurred in 1867.) Following Pullman’s death in 1897, Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln, took over as the company’s president, which places an appropriate bookend on this part of the story.

In 1880, Pullman purchased 4,000 acres 14 miles south of Chicago for a manufacturing plant. He retained Solon Spencer Beman as the plant designer. Pullman went large, building the first company town in the United States. Designed by landscape architect Nathan F. Barrett, the town abutted the manufacturing facility. Built in the Queen Anne style, with Romanesque arches, it included churches, parks, a hotel named after Pullman’s daughter Florence, stores, and a library. Pullman owned every building in the town, charging the workers rent. He also imposed rules and a hierarchy on the community. For example, company managers lived in the larger, more elegant homes, while factory workers were limited to more modest living quarters.

All was seemingly copasetic until 1893, when a major economic downturn hit the country. Facing decreased demand for rail cars, Pullman cut wages by 25%, but did not reduce the rents he charged the workers for housing, which is what precipitated the local walkout on May 11, 1894, and a subsequent lockout.

The strike did not end until July 20, 1894. During its two-plus month duration, railroad switchman, who were members of the ARU, refused to add or remove Pullman cars from trains. They were replaced by nonunion workers, which transformed the local strike into a national one. Given the strike’s economic impact, President Cleveland obtained an injunction under the Sherman Antitrust Act against the strikers and sent troops to Chicago to enforce it. The plan backfired, with barricades being erected and rail cars destroyed. The army and police eventually defeated the workers, but the strike was instrumental in propelling the labor movement forward.

Eugene Debs, the president of the ARU, was arrested, charged with conspiracy, and was eventually found in contempt of court, resulting in a brief confinement. It was this experience that pushed Debs toward socialism.

Eventually the State of Illinois sued Pullman, seeking divesture of the town on the grounds that Pullman was violating the company’s corporate charter. In 1898, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in the state’s favor, resulting in Pullman’s divesting itself of all non-industrial property.

The Peak and the End Game. At its peak during the Roaring Twenties, the reorganized and renamed Pullman Company operated 9,800 cars across the country, employing 28,000 conductors and 12,000 porters. The porters were all African-American. For over 20 years, Pullman was the largest employer of African-Americans in the country. In 1937, the porters’ union negotiated the first major labor agreement involving an African-American union.

The company remained in existence until the early 1980s, but the intervening years brought reorganizations and divestures. In 1944, the U.S. Justice Department won an anti-trust suit against the company, with the court ordering Pullman to divest itself of either its manufacturing or sleeping car operations. In 1968, Pullman stopped leasing the cars to the railroads, and the railroads bought the Pullman railcars.

Pullman did not just manufacture railcars. In 1975, it began producing subway cars for the New York Transit Authority and for the Massachusetts Transportation Authority.

In brief, the Pullman Palace Car Company (and its successors) played a significant role not only in the growth of American rail travel, but also in U.S. labor history. Along the way, it helped create an African-American middle class.

The Obama Proclamation. On February 19, 2015, in recognization of this company and its storied workforce, President Barack Obama issued a presidential proclamation establishing the Pullman National Monument. This status led to the restoration of the Administration building, improvements to the grounds, and creation of a visitors’ center; restoration of one of the manufacturing facilities remains underway. According to a booklet entitled Positioning Pullman 2.0, a Bright Future for Chicago’s National Park, handed out at the dedication, more than $56 million in public and private funds have been invested in the Monument since 2015.

The Dedication and Opening. From the Monument’s perspective, opening on Labor Day weekend makes sense. I overheard one official tell someone that over 8,000 people visited the Monument this weekend, so the opening created a buzz, which likely means additional funding from private sources.

From the visitor’s standpoint, though, I would argue that the Monument is not ready for prime time. The long and short of it: I still did not get a sense that this was a manufacturing facility and planned community. I read that there were three Pullman cars available for viewing over the weekend, but they were gone by the time I arrived at 1 PM on Monday. The workshop being restored is still boarded up and behind a steel fence, so one gets no sense of what went on in the facility. There is minimal outdoor signage. Although the National Park Service brought Rangers in from the Indiana Dunes, they were there largely for crowd control.

I have seen photographs of the visitor’s center. It looks like most visitor centers, with displays and boards of text. Unfortunately, the park Service only permitted 10 people in the center at a time, which meant that the entrance line was long. I waited two hours, and then gave up. Not a good use of time. Had I not waited, I could have toured the site and the adjacent housing in about an hour.

Creating a More Meaningful Experience. For the site to become a meaningful experience, the Monument needs to: (i) provide regular tours with knowledgeable guides; (ii) incorporate outdoor video kiosks into the experience; (iii) display the Pullman cars; (iv) use shuttle buses to take people to related sites; and (iv) provide a much better sense of day-to-day life in the factories and surrounding neighborhoods. I seem to recall that there are guided tours, but they certainly weren’t in evidence today.

Even at this early stage, there were missed opportunities that would have made this weekend’s experience better. First, I stood nearby as Alfonso and Ray Quiroz, two brothers and former Pullman employees, spoke with NBC 5’s Kate Chappell. It was an interesting interview; unfortunately most of it ended up on the proverbial editing room floor by the time it aired Monday night. The brothers and other former employees should have been part of panel discussions—maybe those happened earlier in the weekend, but nothing was happening on dedication day.

Second, in the absence of living former workers, Monument employees or actors should have been dressed in period dress giving explanations.

Third, organized labor was present at the formal dedication ceremony. Following the ceremony, union officials should have sponsored talks about Pullman’s role in U.S. labor history.

Fourth, there should have been more information about the surrounding neighborhood, together with organized walks. There may have been a shuttle bus, although that was not clear. If there wasn’t one, there should have been one, with clear schedules and identified pickup and drop-off points.

Fifth, there was no food or beverage service. At a minimum, the Monument should have arranged for several food trucks. Some form of entertainment would have also been nice. For a couple of thousand dollars, there could have been music throughout the day..

Six, and this is fundraising 101, there should have been a bucket or barrel for cash donations.

Most importantly, the Monument needs a much more robust website, with the history in words, photographs and video interviews available for background. The website also needs to identify each structure that is significant, identify tour opportunities, and list other pertinent information.

The Good News. As of today, the Pullman National Monument is a work in progress. I certainly don’t want to discourage anyone from visiting it, but I suspect in five years a visit will be a much more meaningful experience. Hopefully the National Park Service and private groups fostering the development will plan annual Labor Day celebrations at the site so that we can see the progress.

One thing was made abundantly clear by several neighborhood residents who were standing in line and a television camera man I spoke with: The Monument has already spurred redevelopment of the surrounding community, with homes being renovated, new businesses moving into the area, the city and Metra investing in infrastructure improvements, and new retail. In 2014, Walmart opened a Supercenter, creating 400 new jobs. While that preceded President Obama’s proclamation by a year, Whole Foods opened a distribution center on January 8, 2018.

Conclusion. Despite my criticism, I am glad I made the journey. I learned a little more Chicago history today.

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All images and text, Copyright 2021, Jack B. Siegel. All Rights Reserved. Do not copy, redisplay, alter, or distribute without the express written permission of the copyright holder.