Chicago's Pullman Historic District marks 10 years as part of National Park Service
This week, the historic community of Pullman on Chicago's Far South Side is celebrating 10 years of being part of the National Park Service.
Its history not only preserved through its architecture and its role in the labor movement, but by two brothers who worked and continue to live in the onetime industrial town.
Brothers Al and Ray Qurioz may not consider themselves historians, but by most standards, they are. Al, 88, and Ray, 86, are former workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company — one of the first planned industrial communities that specialized in train car manufacturing in the United States.
"When we started to work there, we learned how the cars were built," said Al Quiroz.
Workers and their families both worked and lived on the grounds, which had a factory and its own streets and housing.
"It was on-the-job training," said Ray Quiroz. "I just loved it."
Today, the two are the last remaining workers to reside in the neighborhood. They not only have held on to their memories, but also rare artifacts from the era of the Pullman Palace Car Company.
These items include century-old blueprints, train car memorabilia, and an electric bell once used to alert riders. The brothers saved all these items after being ordered by supervisors to throw them out.
"The boss saw me and said, 'Ray, whatever is up there on the second floor, get rid of it,'" said Ray Quiroz.
But Al saw it differently.
"I'm a third generation of building railroad cars," Al Quiroz said. "This is my history."
Thanks to the brothers, that history now preserved — and helping tell the story about Chicago's Far South Side Pullman neighborhood, where a renaissance of sorts is underway.
Ten years after President Obama designated the Pullman Historic District as part of the National Park System, the area has seen nearly $500 million in economic development.
Mike Shymanski is founding member of the Historic Pullman Foundation.
"Every time somebody says a negative thing about the South Side, you should be prepared about four positive things," Shymanski said, "and one of the positive things is the national park."
As businesses continue to flock to the area, locals hope it translates to foot traffic — and inquisitive minds coming to visit.
"I came here for coffee and found some history," Shymanski said he hopes to hear people say.
For the Quiroz brothers, they hope the spotlight will continue to shine on the Pullman and their long-lasting contributions.
"It's about all the trouble we had, and all the problems we solved," said Al Quiroz.
A brief history of the Pullman Company and historic district
George M. Pullman, president of the Pullman Palace Car Company, had construction begun for his company town in the 1880s. The town of over 1,000 homes and public buildings was completed in 1884, according to the Historic Pullman Foundation.
The City of Chicago annexed Hyde Park Township — which included all of the South Side east of State Street and south of Pershing Road — in 1889. Most Pullman residents voted against the annexation, and the Pullman Land Association continued to manage town properties despite the annexation, according to the foundation.
In 1894, the Pullman Palace Car Company was the site of one of the most historically notable strikes in American history. The company had lowered wages in response to a drop in demand for train cars amid an economic depression in 1893, but the rents the company charged remained the same. Pullman himself refused to meet with workers and ordered them fired — leading to a strike that ended up paralyzing most railroads west of Detroit until it ended violently with the intervention of federal troops, according to the Historic Pullman Foundation.
George M. Pullman died in 1897, and the following year, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered the Pullman Company to sell all its properties not used for industry — including the company residences. But this did not happen until 1907, with residents being given the first option to purchase their rented homes.
Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of President Abraham Lincoln, became president of the Pullman Palace Car Company in 1901, and served in that role for 10 years.
In 1925, labor organizer A. Phillip Randolph formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The National Park Service notes that at the time, porters made up 44% of the Pullman workforce, and Pullman was the largest employer of Black Americans in the country.
After years of downsizing and consolidation of its factories, and all operations Pullman Company was dissolved on Jan. 1, 1969 — though it maintained a central office staff to wind down affairs and handle a lawsuit until 1981, according to the Newberry Library. Also in 1969, the Pullman district received State of Illinois landmark status.
Today, the Pullman clock tower still stands majestically at 11057 S. Cottage Grove Ave., though what stands today is much newer than it looks. Back in December 1998, an arson fire gutted the building and destroyed the tower and clock, and a new tower and clock were completed in 2005. A 1910 factory building on the Pullman site also burned down in the 1998 fire.
On Feb. 19, 2015, President Obama designated the Pullman Historic District a National Monument that is now part of the National Park Service.
