Images of Pullman National Monument – Chicago, Illinois, taken in August 2017.

Pullman National Monument contains the remains of a unique planned manufacturing and residential community built in the 1880’s to house workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company; builders of Pullman Railroad Cars popular in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

George Pullman’s idea was radical for its time; build a workers community, well above the standards of the day, to attract and retain workers for his railcar factory. The town not only included housing with full utilities and plumbing but also schools, churches and shops. Pullman’s community demonstrated a higher level of urban design and architecture than had been previously seen.

All lodging was rented so when the company was forced by the lagging economy to lay off workers and reduce the wages of others while still maintaining the rent of the housing, workers went on strike. The strike went nationwide in 1894 disrupting rail service coast-to-coast and in August Congress designated Labor Day as a federal holiday to help calm tensions. The strike failed but in 1897 the Supreme Court forced the company to sell all non-manufacturing buildings ruling their company ownership illegal.