Chicago & Pullman National Monument

We had a quick but very fun visit to Chicago.  We had made arrangements to stay at Tom’s Aunt Patricia’s retirement community for one night, in the parking lot as we had done last September.  However, we were arriving on Memorial Day, and Patricia had planned a dinner with Tom’s cousin Eileen and her husband Dick, but they were all quick to make sure we knew we were included in the invitation.  We arrived at Patricia’s a little later than planned, so she was waiting in her parking lot so we could park the truck and load us and the dogs into her car to drive to Eileen and Dick’s.  Eileen and Dick had planned an absolutely delicious surf and turf dinner, which we all enjoyed immensely, since not only was the food way better than anything you’d get in a restaurant, but we were able to relax and catch up on the past six months.  We hadn’t seen these three in almost five years when we visited in September, so it was a big treat to get in another short but sweet visit after only six months.

The next morning, we headed south out of Chicago towards Indiana Dunes National Park, with a planned stop on the way at the Pullman National Monument.  I knew nothing about the Pullman site except it was a community on the outskirts of Chicago which had been planned by Pullman of Pullman train car fame.  I expected to see some old architecture and industrial artifacts, but instead found a fascinating memorial to the US labor movement.

I think I expected the National Memorial to be a memorial to Pullman.  Instead, I found that Pullman was basically a paternal jerk who expected his employees to work themselves to death and thank him for the opportunity to do so, and the National Memorial was created to honor the labor movement.  Pullman built his business and factory at the center of a planned town, where he built row houses, schools, a church, and businesses to support the community.  The kicker was that his employees had no option but to rent the houses, go to those schools, go to that church, and patronize his businesses.  He didn’t pay them enough to pay the rent or to be able to afford to patronize those businesses, and he provided no options for faiths other than the single church unless other faiths wanted to rent the building for ridiculously high prices.  The employees eventually went on strike, but even that situation was fraught because only the White workers could strike, and while they didn’t want the Black workers to strike, they also didn’t want them to take their jobs.  Needless to say, there were years of tension, and the museum and the informational signs around the community do a great job of bringing the situation to life.

The row houses are all restored, and are now mostly privately owned.  Pullman advertised them as being a great deal because they had indoor plumbing when that was definitely not something that was considered standard, but he still expected his employees to pay high rent for the privilege.  We found it interesting that most of the row houses in the neighborhood south of the factory have been restored and look very nice, but the neighborhood north of the factory is pretty rough, with some abandoned with boarded windows, and most in pretty deplorable shape.

This is the church which most religions couldn’t afford to rent.  Apparently it was unused for many years since nobody was willing to pay the rent.

The very fancy Hotel Florence has fallen into disrepair, but this was also a tool for Pullman’s status games.  The employees were only allowed into a few of the common rooms, and the bulk of the hotel was reserved for Pullman’s business guests.  It probably wasn’t a big deal, since the employees couldn’t afford to cross the threshold anyway.

The factory burned and has not been rebuilt, but its bulk stands as a testimonial to the size of the operation.

​We did the entire walking tour of the site, although we turned back when we got to the rougher section of row houses.  We then got back in the truck and headed out of Chicago and Illinois, for a brief stop in Indiana at Indiana Dunes National Park.