America’s newest national park recently opened on the South Side of Chicago. The Pullman National Monument celebrates the unique history of a company that mass-produced freight and passenger rail cars at the site from 1881 to 1981.
In addition to playing an important role in manufacturing, Pullman had a leading hand in both the organized labor and the civil rights movements. All three achievements are celebrated at the visitor’s center, which is housed in a red brick Romanesque-style building that formerly served managers and engineers at the vertically integrated production complex.