PULLMAN HISTORIC DISTRICT

Reconnaissance Survey

July 2013

National Park Service

Midwest Region

Chicago, Illinois
2 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

Study Team

Natalie Franz, Planner, Midwest Region, National Park Service

Sändra Washington, Associate Regional Director, Cultural Resources, 

Strategic Investments, and Planning, Midwest Region,

National Park Service

Acknowledgements

This report would not have been possible without the time and expertise of:

Julia Bachrach, Historian, Chicago Park District and Trustee, Illinois 

Historic Preservation Agency

Pat Brannon, Vice President, Pullman Civic Organization

Lorraine Brochu, President, Pullman Civic Organization

Linda Bullen, Curator, Pullman State Historic Site

David Doig, President, Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives

Phyllis Ellin, Chicago Liaison, Midwest Region, National Park Service

Sunny Fischer, Board Chair, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency

Charles Gregerson

Eleanor Gorski, Assistant Commissioner, Department of Housing 

and Economic Development, City of Chicago

Dr. Lyn Hughes, Director, Black Labor History and Cultural Studies 

Research Center

Holly Ludlam, Interpreter, Pullman State Historic Site

Lynn McClure, Midwest Region Director, National Parks 

Conservation Association

Arthur Pearson, Pullman Civic Organization

David Peterson, President, A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum

Catherine Shannon, Deputy Director, Illinois Historic Preservation 

Agency

Mike Shymanski, President, Historic Pullman Foundation

Mike Wagenbach, Director, Pullman State Historic Site

Sherry Williams, Bronzeville Historical Society

Antoinette Wright, Independent Cultural Management Consultant

This study has been prepared to explore specific resources and advise on 

whether these resources merit further consideration as a potential addition to 

the National Park System. Publication or transmittal of this report should not 

be considered an endorsement or a commitment by the National Park Service 

to seek or support specific legislative authorization for the project or its implementation. This report was prepared by the United States Department of the 

Interior, National Park Service, Midwest Region. For more information contact:

Natalie Franz

Midwest Regional Office

National Park Service

601 Riverfront Drive

Omaha, NE 68102-4226

(402) 661-1856
National Park Service 3

This reconnaissance survey is a preliminary resource 

assessment of the Pullman Historic District based on 

National Park Service (NPS) criteria for inclusion in the 

National Park System: significance, suitability, feasibility, 

and need for direct NPS management. The conclusions 

are not final or definitive – the survey provides a cursory 

review and analysis of available information to determine 

whether a special resource study is warranted. 

Historic Context

The model factory town of Pullman was created 

from scratch in the 1880s by the Pullman Palace Car 

Company to manufacture railroad passenger cars and 

house workers and their families. Company founder 

George Pullman saw the positive incentives of good 

housing, parks, and amenities as a way to build a 

happy, reliable workforce. He engaged architect Solon 

Spencer Beman and landscape architect Nathan F. 

Barrett to plan the town and design the buildings and 

public spaces therein, all of which were owned by the 

Pullman Company. When an economic downturn led 

to flagging revenues, the Pullman Company lowered 

wages, but not the rents on company housing, angering 

workers. This spark ignited the Pullman Strike of 1894, 

in which Pullman factory workers walked off the job 

and American Railway Union members nationwide 

boycotted Pullman cars, disrupting rail traffic. This 

major labor action was defeated, with national reverberations. The Pullman Company would again be the focus 

of a nationally important labor event when, in 1937, 

the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, an influential 

African-American union, sought and won recognition 

from the company.

Existing Conditions

The Pullman Historic District covers approximately 

300 acres of the Pullman neighborhood in southeast 

Chicago, Illinois. The district retains the strong integrity 

it had at the time of designation as a National Historic 

Landmark (NHL) in 1970. Most houses are privately 

owned and maintained. The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency manages the Administration and Factory 

Complex and Hotel Florence as a historic site. The 

Historic Pullman Foundation operates a visitor center 

and owns several properties in the district. Other organizations work toward the interpretation and improvement of the Pullman Historic District. The historic 

resources of the district, especially the Administration 

and Factory Complex, have been the subject of many 

previous studies.

Significance

For a historic site to meet national significance criteria 

for addition to the National Park System, it must meet 

the criteria for NHLs. The Pullman Historic District 

was designated an NHL District in 1970 for its importance in social history, architecture, and urban planning, 

therefore, it meets criteria for national significance. 

Suitability

The suitability criterion for addition to the National Park 

System is met when a determination is made that the 

cultural resources and historical themes of a study area 

are not preserved and interpreted for public enjoyment 

elsewhere by the NPS or comparably by another entity. 

Though other sites preserve and interpret labor stories 

and sites where some corporate planning of worker 

housing took place, none match the scale, intensity, and 

national impact of the Pullman Historic District. As a 

result, it is likely that a full special resource study would 

have a positive finding for suitability.

Feasibility

To be considered feasible for inclusion in the National 

Park System, NPS must be capable of ensuring resource 

protection and public enjoyment at a reasonable cost. 

Preliminary feasibility of the Pullman Historic District 

cannot be determined considering the many possible 

responsibilities and management structures of a unit 

within the district. Should a special resource study be 

authorized, a finding of feasibility would rely heavily on 

the existence of a strong partnership with a consortium 

of private and public organizations. Evaluation of that 

complexity is outside the scope of a reconnaissance 

survey. 

Need for Direct NPS Management

A site meets the need for NPS management criterion if 

management by NPS is both required and the clearly 

superior alternative. Many resources within the Pullman 

Historic District are cared for by owners and protected 

by City of Chicago historic preservation ordinances. 

Existing community groups, nonprofits, and the state 

are all working at capacity in Pullman, yet there are 

unmet needs for resource protection and comprehensive interpretation. A full study may determine that 

there is a need for NPS management, or that existing 

management is adequate if supported by targeted NPS 

programmatic assistance. Because of the strength of 

existing organizations, it seems that if NPS were to have 

SUMMARY
4 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

a role in Pullman, it would be more effective as part of 

that system, rather than wholly relieving any current 

group of their responsibilities.

Conclusion

In a preliminary evaluation, the Pullman Historic 

District appears likely to meet the national significance 

and suitability criteria if evaluated in a special resource 

study. However, determinations about feasibility and 

need for NPS management are complex due to the range 

of potential resource responsibilities, high potential 

costs, and the need to examine potential partnership 

models to make NPS involvement viable. Such complex 

evaluations are beyond the scope of the reconnaissance survey. Therefore the NPS recommends that a 

special resource study be authorized to fully analyze the 

criteria for inclusion in the National Park System, invite 

public involvement, and develop potential management 

scenarios. The NPS also recommends an update to the 

NHL documentation for the Pullman Historic District.

Top: Pullman Town Houses for the Pullman Palace Car Company 

from the offices of Solon Spencer Beman. Courtesy of the 

Industrial Heritage Archives at Pullman State Historic Site. Middle: 

Workers on lunch break. Courtesy of the Paul Petraitis Collection 

at Pullman State Historic Site. Bottom: 11400 block of South 

Langley Avenue, 2012.
National Park Service 5

CONTENTS

Introduction 6

Part I: Historic Context and Existing Conditions

Historic Context 10

Recent History 21

Existing Conditions 22

Government & Community Organizations 27

Previous Study 32

Part II: Preliminary Application of the Criteria for Inclusion

Significance 36

Suitability 38

Feasibility 42

Need for Direct NPS Management 44

Conclusion & Recommendations 45

Bibliography 47

Appendix A: Criteria for Inclusion 49

Appendix B: National Historic Landmark Criteria 51
6 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

INTRODUCTION

This reconnaissance survey is a preliminary resource 

assessment of the Pullman Historic District based on 

National Park Service (NPS) criteria for inclusion in 

the National Park System.1

 The survey was requested 

in a letter to National Park Service Director Jonathan 

B. Jarvis in May of 2012 by Illinois 2nd Congressional 

District Representative Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. and Illinois 

Senators Richard J. Durbin and Mark Kirk. It provides 

a cursory review and analysis of available information to determine whether a special resource study is 

warranted.

Studies for potential new units of the National Park 

System, called special resource studies, are conducted 

by the NPS only when authorized by Congress and 

signed into law by the President. The special resource 

study (SRS) process is designed to provide definitive 

findings of a site’s significance, suitability, feasibility, 

and the need for direct NPS management; and, if those 

criteria are met, identify and evaluate potential resource 

protection strategies, boundaries, and management 

alternatives.

Reconnaissance Survey Process

While specific authorization from Congress would be 

necessary to conduct a SRS, the NPS is authorized to 

conduct preliminary resource assessments and gather 

data on potential study areas or sites. The term “reconnaissance survey” is used to describe this type of 

assessment. Its conclusions are not considered final or 

definitive. A reconnaissance survey examines the natural 

and cultural resources in a study area to provide a preliminary evaluation of their significance, and the suitability and feasibility of protecting those resources as a 

park unit. If a study area appears potentially eligible for 

inclusion in the NPS system, then NPS may recommend 

that a special resource study be authorized by Congress. 

The Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey 

is divided into two parts. Part I first summarizes the 

historic context of the district and its national importance in labor history, transportation history, architecture, and urban planning. Second, it describes existing 

conditions in the district, identifying major landowners 

and existing preservation and interpretation efforts. 

Third, because the Pullman District has been evaluated 

1

 This criteria is outlined in NPS Management Policies 2006 Section 

1.3 (Appendix A), and draws its legal basis from Public Law 91-383 

§8 as amended by §303 of the National Parks Omnibus Management Act (Public Law 105-391).

several times in the last two decades by the National 

Park Service and others, a section describes the previous 

studies and their scope and findings. In Part II of the 

survey, the criteria for inclusion in the National Park 

System is preliminarily assessed. The survey concludes 

with recommendations for further study. 

Criteria for Inclusion in the National Park System 

The following are the criteria a site must meet to be 

recommended for inclusion in the National Park System 

(Appendix A): 

1. Significance: Determinations of an area’s national 

significance are made by NPS professionals in consultation with scholars, experts, and scientists following 

specific criteria. The National Park Service has adopted 

four criteria to evaluate the national significance of 

proposed areas. These criteria, listed in the NPS Management Policies 2006, state that a resource is nationally 

significant if it meets all of the following conditions:

•	 It is an outstanding example of a particular type 

of resource.

•	 It possesses exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the natural or cultural 

themes of our nation’s heritage.

•	 It offers superlative opportunities for public enjoyment or for scientific study.

•	 It retains a high degree of integrity as a true, 

accurate, and relatively unspoiled example of a 

resource.

National significance for cultural resources will be 

evaluated by applying the National Historic Landmark 

(NHL) criteria contained in 36 CFR Part 65.4 (Code of 

Federal Regulations).

2. Suitability: A property is considered suitable if it represents a resource type that is not currently represented 

in the park system or is not comparably represented 

and protected for public enjoyment by another agency 

or entity. Adequacy of representation is determined 

on a case-by-case basis by comparing the type, quality, 

quantity, combination of resources present, and opportunities for public enjoyment.
National Park Service 7

In addition to resource conservation, the fundamental 

purpose of all parks is to provide for the enjoyment of 

park resources and values by the people of the United 

States. Public enjoyment of national park units are 

preferably those forms of enjoyment that are “uniquely 

suited to the superlative natural and cultural resources 

found in the parks and that (1) foster an understanding 

of and appreciation for park resources and values, or (2) 

promote enjoyment through a direct association with, 

interaction with, or relation to park resources.”2 

3. Feasibility: To be considered feasible, an area must 

be of sufficient size and appropriate configuration to 

ensure long-term protection of the resources and to 

accommodate public use. The area must have potential 

for efficient administration at a reasonable cost. Other 

important feasibility factors include land ownership, 

acquisition costs, current and potential use, access, level 

of local and general public support, and staff or development requirements.

4. Necessity of Direct NPS Management: Even if a 

resource meets the criteria of national significance, 

suitability, and feasibility, it will not always be recommended that the resource be added to the National 

Park System. There are many excellent examples of 

important natural and cultural resources managed by 

other federal agencies, other levels of government, and 

private entities. A proposed addition must require direct 

NPS management instead of protection by other public 

agencies or the private section, and the evaluation of 

management options must show NPS management is 

the clearly superior alternative. Because a reconnaissance survey does not propose management alternatives, there will be only a cursory discussion of need for 

direct NPS management.

2 NPS Management Policies 2006 Section 8.1.1.

Aerial photo of the Pullman neighborhood showing the 

Pullman Historic District

PART I

Historic Context and Existing Conditions
10 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

Historic Context

The Pullman Historic District covers approximately 

300 acres of the Pullman neighborhood in southeast 

Chicago, Illinois. Once its own town, Pullman was 

created from scratch by the Pullman Palace Car 

Company, which manufactured railroad passenger cars. 

Pullman’s rich history in manufacturing, labor history, 

architecture, and urban planning is of national importance.

George Mortimer Pullman grew up in New York State 

near the major engineering feat of the early nineteenth century, the Erie Canal. Pullman’s father had a 

business moving buildings, and with that knowledge 

and a knack for business, Pullman sought opportunities 

in the booming city of Chicago. In the mid-1850s, the 

growing city needed better drainage and young Pullman 

devised a way to raise entire buildings to the new grade 

level, thus making his early fortune. He then turned his 

attention to the railroads expanding across the nation 

with the goal of providing comfortable and elegant 

sleeping cars for overnight travelers. 

George Pullman founded the Pullman Palace Car 

Company in 1867, and it quickly gained a large 

share of the market, buying up smaller competitors. 

Pullman’s factories employed a mostly white workforce 

of laborers, cabinetmakers, upholsterers, and other 

workers in constructing the lavish railroad cars. The 

cars transformed the experience of passenger railroad 

travel for those able to afford it, setting a new standard. 

The luxurious sleeping cars, as well as hotel cars, parlor 

cars, reclining room cars, and dining cars the company 

produced were expensive for railroads to purchase 

outright. Pullman’s business model was to lease 

sleeping cars to the railroads and provide the employees 

necessary to serve passengers. Many of these employees 

were recently-freed former house slaves. 

George Pullman championed the education and betterment of workers, out of concern for the welfare of lowskilled migrants from rural areas and abroad, and out of 

concern for the quality of the workforce from which his 

factories drew. Though he and the growing ranks of industrialist peers were ensconced in their Prairie Avenue 

mansions, they could not fail to see the attendant rise 

in slums which brought with them poor sanitary conditions and the “social ills” of the time. The widening gulf 

between management and workers contributed to labor 

unrest, which Chicago experienced every year between 

1870 and 1880. Pullman, convinced that capital and 

labor should cooperate for mutual benefit, sought to 

address the needs of his workers using business efficiency. And, as it happened, he needed a new factory.1

The need for a new manufacturing center for sleeping 

cars gave Pullman the opportunity to apply his ideas 

about the role of the employer in the living conditions 

and betterment of his workers. Rising land prices in the 

City of Chicago drew manufacturing to the outer areas, 

and a clean slate south of the city was chosen for a new, 

meticulously-planned company town. The Pullman 

Palace Car Company purchased 4,000 acres for its town 

and factory between Lake Calumet and the Illinois 

Central rail line south of Chicago. All but 500 acres were 

transferred to the Pullman Land Association, the entity 

which would control all non-manufacturing real estate,

1 Stanley Buder, Pullman: An Experiment in Industrial Order and 

Community Planning, 1880-1930 (New York: Oxford University 

Press, 1967), 32-37.

View of Pullman’s hotel car City of Boston, published in Engineering, July 1869.
National Park Service 11

 though the division between the Car Company and the 

Land Association was merely a legal fiction.2

The task of constructing an entire company town at 

once was a unique endeavor. Pullman hired three professionals to oversee the work. Architect Solon Spencer 

Beman was commissioned to design the many buildings 

of the town including the factory buildings, church, 

theater, market, water tower, hotel, and over 1,300 

housing units. Landscape architect Nathaniel Franklin 

Barrett’s charge was the layout of the town, design 

of the streets and parks, and even an artificial lake. 

Benzette Williams, Chicago’s former superintendent 

of sewage, took on water, sewer, and gas lines, and site 

drainage.

Groundbreaking occurred in spring of 1880, and work 

proceeded at a furious pace, with over 100 railroad 

cars of supplies per week unloaded at Pullman over the 

summer. By fall, factory buildings were taking shape and 

work began on the first non-industrial building in town: 

the Hotel Florence. The first factory shops completed 

were those that would refine the building materials as 

they came in. A brickyard was built south of the site to 

supply materials needed for the “first all-brick city.”3

Housing for workers was separated from the industrial areas, and took shape primarily as row houses with 

red granite macadam streets in front and alleys in the 

rear for the daily trash collection. Indoor plumbing and 

relative spaciousness put Pullman’s accommodations 

well above the standards of the day, and were a marked 

improvement over the overcrowded and unsanitary 

tenements where many industrial workers made their 

homes in the late nineteenth century. 

In addition to believing that good living conditions 

could prevent misery and vice, Pullman believed that 

good design and beauty was ennobling, and thus desired 

buildings that would be both practical and aesthetically 

pleasing.4 Beman designed housing in simple yet elegant 

Queen Anne style, and included Romanesque arches for 

buildings that housed shops and services. Though he 

strove to avoid monotony, Beman imbued the town with 

visual continuity. The scale, detailing and architectural 

sophistication of the community was unprecedented.

2 Ibid., 49-50.

3 Ibid., 49-52.

4 Ibid., 43.

Barrett, for his part, broke up the monotony of the grid 

of streets with the curvilinear Arcade Park and Lake 

Vista, in front of the Administration building, which 

held the spent water from the massive Corliss engine 

that powered the factory. Street trees and street lights 

enlivened the streetscape.

For all the beauty, sanitation, and order he wanted 

to provide to his workers and their families, George 

Pullman did not give them away, believing people did 

not value the things they did not pay for. His workers 

would benefit from their superior surroundings while 

paying a rent that was to ensure a six percent return on 

the company’s investment in building the town.

The meticulousness with which George Pullman 

provided for his workers went beyond social uplift; 

it amounted to social control. A system of control 

and hierarchy was inscribed in the architecture and 

layout of the community. Larger, more ornate, and 

finely-finished houses on Arcade Row were intended 

for company officers; smaller, simpler rowhouses for 

junior workers and their families; and rooms without 

kitchens in tenement blocks for single men. The only 

religious building in Pullman, Greenstone Church, was 

intended to be shared by various denominations, since 

no one group could afford its high rent. Saloons were 

not allowed. 

George Pullman wanted other companies to locate in 

his model town, but the only ones that did were those 

in which he had a direct interest or that were suppliers 

to the Pullman Palace Car Company. 5

 When additional housing was needed for the Allen Paper Car 

5 Ibid., 56.

“[C]apital will not invest in sentiment, 

nor for sentimental considerations for the 

laboring class. But let it once be proved that 

enterprises of this kind are safe and profitable and we shall see great manufacturing 

companies develop similar enterprises, 

and thus a new era will be introduced in 

the history of labor.” 

George Pullman, to the Hour Week Journal of New 

York, August 5, 1882
12 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

Wheel Company and the Union Foundry, additional 

housing was constructed north of the industrial area. 

The foundry and wheelworks tended to employ lower-paid, unskilled labor, so simpler, cheaper row houses 

designed by Beman were constructed there. Aside from 

a firehouse and school, no public facilities were constructed in the northern section of Pullman.

The factories at Pullman attracted thousands of people, 

the majority of which were skilled workers, commanding a higher salary than semi or unskilled workers. 

Pullman had intended his town to attract and retain 

these employees, most of whom were young, skilled, 

and overwhelmingly male. 6 The company made efforts 

to employ women in jobs such as sewing, considered 

appropriate because they stemmed from household 

tasks.7

 By fall of 1883, the population of Pullman topped 

8,000. African Americans were not permitted to live 

in Pullman; the population was ethnically diverse but 

racially monochromatic. Less than half of Pullman 

residents in 1885 were native-born, a percentage that 

fell steadily. Scandinavians, Germans, Dutch, British and 

Irish origins were well represented among immigrant 

groups.8

Not all workers at the Pullman factories lived in Pullman 

proper. Out of necessity or choice, many moved out 

6 Ibid., 78-79

7 Susan Eleanor Hirsch, After the Strike: A Century of Labor 

Struggle at Pullman (Urbana and Chicago, IL: University of Illinois 

Press, 2003), 13.

8 Ibid., 89-90.

to the surrounding neighborhoods that developed, 

providing places for single-denomination houses of 

worship, saloons, and property ownership that were 

not possible in Pullman. Pullman was annexed by 

Chicago in 1889, but since the Pullman Land Association continued to own the properties, management and 

maintenance of the town by the company continued. 

Beyond the profit on the company’s investment and the 

effect of the surroundings on the workers the Pullman 

Company was able to attract and retain, George Pullman 

had an eponymous showplace to exhibit the living 

proof of his philosophy. The town attracted visitors, 

and during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition 

in Chicago, visitors from near and far came to marvel 

at the town. Pullman did, however, have its detractors; 

labor leaders were mistrustful of the decidedly capitalist 

scheme, while other capitalists saw it as inviting trouble 

and doubted it could possibly be as profitable as George 

Pullman intended. And, in fact, it wasn’t. Returns on the 

town never reached the six percent threshold. When 

one of the partners in Procter & Gamble approached 

George Pullman for advice on building a model town for 

a Cincinnati soap factory, he advised against the idea.9

As Chicago was on display in 1893 for the World’s 

Columbian Exposition, the grip of financial panic was 

closing around the country in general and the railroad 

industry in particular. Despite the stimulus provided 

9 Ibid., 132-133. Procter & Gamble did build a factory complex, 

Ivorydale, but not worker housing. Ivorydale was designed by 

Solon Spencer Beman.

View of east side of 11100 block of Champlain Avenue with the original Market Hall in the distance, c.1883. Courtesy of the 

Industrial Heritage Archives at Pullman State Historic Site.
National Park Service 13

View of Lake Vista, with the Administration Building, Hotel Florence, and Arcade Building, c.1885. Courtesy of Pullman State Historic Site.
14 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

by travelers from around the nation flocking to the fair 

itself, railroads had become mismanaged and overbuilt, 

and in 1893 were reaching a tipping point. Pullman 

exhibits in the Transportation Building at the World’s 

Columbian Exposition helped spur fairgoers to visit the 

Pullman neighborhood, and most found cause to praise 

George Pullman’s grand experiment.10 They did not 

see the annoyance of Pullman workers and residents at 

company paternalism and red tape that festered under 

the surface.11 As 1893 wore on, orders at the factory 

declined, and decreases in wages came without corresponding decreases in rents. Since rents were deducted 

from paychecks, workers were left with what amounted 

to starvation wages.12 Meanwhile, the corporate 

dividends were undisturbed.13 Discontent and grievance 

could remain silent no longer.

The American Railway Union (ARU) had formed in 

June 1893 in Chicago, with membership open to all 

white railroad employees of any profession. While 

other unions, such as the Brotherhood of Locomotive 

Firemen, focused on specific professions, the ARU 

embraced all related professions, even coal miners, longshoremen, and car-builders, if they were in the employ 

of a railroad. Pullman Company employees were eligible 

since the company owned and operated a few miles of 

railroad to access its factories. The structure of the union 

10 Ibid., 147-148.

11 Almont Lindsey, The Pullman Strike: The Story of a Unique 

Experiment and of a Great Labor Upheaval (Chicago: University of 

Chicago Press, 1942), 90-91.

12 Ibid., 101.

13 bid., 128.

was one that encouraged democracy and settlement of 

grievances by mediation, recognizing that strikes were 

destructive for both employers and employees and to 

be avoided. Under the leadership of President Eugene 

V. Debs, the union won some early victories and ranks 

swelled to 150,000 members.14

Pullman workers, who had formed a grievance 

committee to negotiate with the company, were getting 

nowhere, and, though ARU leadership advised against 

it, a strike broke out at the Pullman factories on May 11, 

1894. The timing was unfortunate, since the company 

could afford to withstand a work stoppage financially 

by relying on existing leases. Against the might of the 

Pullman Company, the cause of the workers seemed 

hopeless. The Pullman Company continued to resist 

any concessions in negotiations with the strikers, trying 

to wait them out. So the ARU decided to take a truly 

injurious action against the Pullman Company on a 

national scale: a boycott of the handling of Pullman cars 

by all ARU workers.15

Because Pullman cars were in such wide use, the boycott 

crippled rail traffic nationwide. Workers across the 

country had also seen wage reductions and had cause to 

take action. The size and scope of the ARU was threatening to railroads. In response, the General Managers’ 

Association, an industry group representing 24 railroads 

with terminals in Chicago, organized measures against 

the boycott. Those who walked off the job were replaced 

with strikebreakers, and the association tried to sway 

14 Ibid., 110-111.

15 Ibid.,, 124-133.

Left: The Alexander, a lavish made-to-order private car, 1892. Right: Interior of the Machine Bay, Pullman. 
National Park Service 15

public opinion against the boycott through methods 

such as encouraging Pullman cars to be hitched to mail 

cars to disrupt delivery.16

It was through disruption of the United States mail that 

the federal government was given an opening for intervention into the boycott and strike. The government was 

uncomfortable with the labor actions in general, part 

of a growing apprehension about the laboring classes 

by those in the propertied class during a period of 

economic hardship.17 An injunction against the boycott 

was secured on the grounds of the violent nature of the 

strike and the threat to interstate commerce, citing the 

Sherman Anti-Trust Law of 1890, which ironically had 

been adopted to combat monopoly by big business. 

Going over the head of the Illinois Governor, thousands 

of U.S. marshals and U.S. Army troops were deployed 

in what seemed an outsized response to the disturbance. In Chicago, mob activity increased with the 

military presence, with members from Pullman, but 

many more from other south side neighborhoods.18

Back in Pullman, the Pullman Company strikers’ plight 

had been overshadowed on the national stage by the 

boycott. Fighting between the military and workers 

at rail yards in the Chicago area left dozens dead and 

more wounded. The injunction led to the jailing of key 

leaders, weakening the ARU and the strike.19

16 Ibid., 132-144.

17 Ibid., 147-150.

18 Buder, 191-192.

19 National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, “National Register of Historic Places, Multiple Property Documentation 

“There are variety and freedom on the 

outside. There are monotony and surveillance on the inside. None of the “superior,” 

or “scientific” advantages of the model 

city will compensate for the restrictions on 

the freedom of the workmen, the denial of 

opportunities of ownership, the heedless 

and vexatious parade of authority, and 

the sense of injustice arising from the 

well founded belief that the charges of 

the company for rent, heat, gas, water, 

etc. are excessive – if not extortionate...

Pullman may appear all glitter and glow, 

all gladness and glory to the casual visitor, 

but there is the deep, dark background of 

discontent which it would be idle to deny.”

 The Chicago Tribune, September 21, 1888

Pullman workers at the factory gates, date unknown. Courtesy of the Industrial Heritage Archives at Pullman State Historic Site
16 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

National Guard troups encamped at the Hotel Florence, 1894. Courtesy of the Industrial Heritage Archives at Pullman State Historic Site.
National Park Service 17

the Pullman Company to sell all non-industrial land 

holdings. Some holdings, such as the brickyard, sold 

quickly. The Illinois Central railroad had owned the 

right of way past the front of the factory; Lake Vista was 

filled and new track and a road installed. The company 

was granted a deferment on its deadline to sell most of 

the town, which mostly changed hands in 1907, with 

residents given the first option to buy.25

The Pullman Company, no longer in the landlord 

business, returned to success under the leadership of 

its second president, Robert Todd Lincoln.26 Union 

activity returned to Pullman, and just ten years after 

the explosive strike, in 1904 the company locked out 

union workers, defeating them easily and without 

larger incident.27 In 1900, the company began using 

metal frames for its cars, and by 1908 the company had 

converted to all steel construction.28 Over $5 million was 

invested in remodeling and enlarging the shops.29 As the 

company succeeded in the 20th century, the town it once 

supported floundered. As the housing stock uniformly 

aged and other neighborhoods grew around it, Pullman 

lost population, and its community identity.30

The 1894 Strike was not the last time the Pullman 

Company would be the epicenter of a contentious 

labor issue. In the early 20th century, the Brotherhood 

of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) strove for recognition 

of their union, a victory whose impact went beyond 

Pullman Porters to African-American society on the 

whole.

25 Buder, 213-214.

26 Robert Todd Lincoln was the son of President Abraham Lincoln.

27 Hirsch, 46-50.

28 Buder, 212.

29 Ibid., 218.

30 Ibid., 224-225.

With the government working to the General Managers’ 

Association’s ends, Debs felt the only way to force the 

Pullman Company into arbitration was reaching out 

to other labor groups to join in a general strike, but 

his efforts did not succeed.20 The boycott dissolved in 

mid-July, and the ARU was defeated; some of the workers 

who quit the union were reemployed. For refusal to 

obey the injunction, Debs and others in the ARU were 

indicted for contempt. In late July, President Grover 

Cleveland appointed a commission to investigate the 

strike and boycott. 

Though public sentiment had been against the boycott, 

George Pullman was roundly criticized for the policies 

that led to the strike and his refusal to enter into arbitration with his workers. The situation for those in Pullman 

remained dire, and while little effort was made to evict 

residents or collect rent in arrears, destitution was widespread. In his testimony before the investigative commission, however, George Pullman defended his model town 

and his decisions, though they had led to a strike which 

ultimately damaged the company and the strikers, and 

tarnished his image irreparably.21

If George Pullman entertained any doubts about the 

wisdom of continuing the company town experiment, they were not reflected in his actions; company 

ownership and concern with the town’s appearance 

continued under Pullman’s direction until his death in 

1897.22 Tons of steel and concrete were placed over his 

casket to prevent labor radicals from desecrating the 

grave.23

The impacts of the Pullman Strike, as the strike and 

boycott have come to be known collectively, were 

national in scope. As a massive and truly national strike, 

it demonstrated the power of national labor and forced 

consideration about labor action and corporate paternalism. Legally, the injunction against the strike, later 

upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, In re Debs, 158 U.S. 

564 (1985), affirmed a broad power of the federal government to ensure the free flow of interstate commerce, 

essentially making national strikes illegal.24

In October 1898, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered 

Form: American Labor History Theme Study” (January, 2003), 66. 

Hereafter cited as “ALHTS 2003.”

20 Buder, 185.

21 Ibid., 199.

22 Ibid., 16.

23 Ibid., 210.

24 History of the Federal Judiciary, “The Debs Case: Labor, Capital, and the Federal Courts of the 1890s,” (Web site of the Federal 

Judicial Center, Washington, D.C.).

“I believe a rich plunderer like Pullman is 

a greater felon than a poor thief, and it has 

become no small part of the duty of this organization to strip the mask of hypocrisy 

from the pretended philanthropist and 

show him to the world as an oppressor of 

labor...The paternalism of the Pullman is 

the same as the interest of a slaveholder 

in his human chattels. You are striking to 

avert slavery and degradation.” 

Eugene V. Debs, President of ARU, speech of May 16, 1894
18 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

Top: Conflict at the Rock Island, Illinois, rail yards as depicted in Harper’s Magazine, 1894. Bottom left and right: Other scenes of 

the Pullman Strike from Harper’s Magazine, 1894. 

Operation of railroads across the country relied on 

different classes of workers: conductors and engineers 

in the “operating trades,” construction and laborers, 

and service positions like porters, dining car waiters, 

and station ushers. The classes of railway workers were 

segmented along racial and ethnic lines. Workers in 

the railroad trades began forming “brotherhoods” in 

the 1860s and 1870s as a response to health and safety 

issues. Many of these brotherhoods codified these racial 

divisions, barring non-whites from membership. In 

general, African-Americans were confined to the service 

positions.31

Thus it was in the service positions that black trade 

unionism on the railroads began. The Brotherhood 

of Sleeping Car Porters was founded in 1925 in New 

York City, and for four decades was led by A. Philip 

Randolph, who had never worked as a porter or even 

ridden in a sleeping car.32 From outside the Pullman 

31 ALHTS 2003, 95-96. In the south, many African-Americans 

served in the operating trades as brakemen and firemen, but were 

barred from the top positions of conductor and engineer.

32 Larry Tye, Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 

Company, he was not susceptible to their reprisals, 

and his powerful public speaking and work editing 

the Harlem, New York monthly The Messenger helped 

prepare him for the task.33 Porters comprised 44 percent 

of the Pullman rail car operation workforce, and 

Pullman was the nation’s largest employer of African 

Americans.34 The porters, owing in part to their cosmopolitan experience, held positions of status and 

respect in the black community. The union faced tough 

opposition: from a traditionally racist industry, from 

an anti-union corporation, and initially from some in 

the black community as well who feared economic 

reprisals, since the Pullman Company offered jobs to 

African-Americans and advertised in the black press.35

In 1937, the Pullman Company signed a contract with 

the BSCP, leading to higher salaries, better job security, 

and increased protection for workers’ rights through 

2004), 113.

33 Beth Tompkins Bates, Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest 

Politics in Black America 1925-1945 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of 

North Carolina Press, 2001), 31-32.

34 Tye, 99, 114.

35 ALHTS 2003, 102-103.
National Park Service 19

grievance procedures.36 It was the first major labor 

agreement between an African-American union and a 

corporation. The NAACP’s Crisis credited the victory 

for broad influence, saying, “As important as is this 

lucrative contract as a labor victory to the Pullman 

porters, it is even more important to the Negro race as 

a whole, from the point of view of the Negro’s uphill 

climb for respect, recognition and influence, and 

economic advance.”37 The BSCP also functioned as a 

civil rights organization through the 1960s. 

The Pullman Company factories consolidated and 

downsized through the 1940s, and the railroads discontinued sleeping car service in 1969.38 Cars and highway 

travel eclipsed passenger rail for short trips and commercial aviation eclipsed passenger rail for long distance 

travel. Although the company split apart and rail travel 

itself faded from prominence, the Pullman Company 

and the labor unrest it ignited remains prominent in the 

American memory of industrial and labor history. The 

causes of those developments and upheavals can still 

be seen in the architecture and landscape of Pullman’s 

model town.

36 ALHTS 2003, 103.

37 Quoted in ALHTS 2003, 103, from G. James Fleming, “Pullman Porters Win Pot of Gold,” Crisis 44, No.11 (November 1937), 

333.

38 Tye, xii.

Left: A. Philip Randolph addressing a Civil Rights rally in Chicago, 1960. Right: Pullman porter Harry Lucas in a private car, 1938.

“As important as is this lucrative contract 

as a labor victory to the Pullman porters, 

it is even more important to the Negro 

race as a whole, from the point of view of 

the Negro’s uphill climb for respect, recognition and influence, and economic 

advance.”

G. James Fleming in the NAACP’s Crisis, 1937
20 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

Historic American Engineering Record rendering of the Pullman Company factory complex in 1886.
National Park Service 21

The recent history of Pullman has been marked by 

strong preservation advocacy and action in the face 

of destruction or partial destruction. In 1960, when 

the neighborhood was slated to be turned into an 

industrial park, residents reactivated in the Pullman 

Civic Organization (PCO) to prevent destruction of 

the community and promote its history.39 The district 

became a National Historic Landmark District in 1970. 

The southern portion of the Pullman neighborhood was 

designated a Chicago city landmark district in 1972, and 

north district of Pullman was designated a Chicago city 

landmark district in 1993. The two districts were administratively joined and renamed the Pullman District by 

the city in 1999.

From 1972-75, the non-profit Historic Pullman Foundation (HPF) purchased and safeguarded some of 

Pullman’s prominent historic assets. With guidance and 

some financial support of the PCO, many homeowners 

have preserved and restored their historic homes. 

39 The Pullman Civic Organization began during WWII as a civil 

defense organization.

The Administration Building and North Factory Wing 

were largely vacant and deteriorating following the 

factory closure, which was mostly complete by 1957. 

The now-destroyed south wing of the factory and Rear 

Erecting Shops were in use by various steel concerns. 

The Administration and Factory Complex and the Hotel 

Florence were acquired by the State of Illinois in 1991, 

after which they were established as a state historic 

site. Before the Administration and Factory Complex 

buildings could be utilized, a 1998 arson fire claimed the 

south factory wing and reduced much of the remainder 

to a shell. Funds were secured to rehabilitate the 

fire-ravaged structures and reconstruct the clocktower. 

Development taking place at the time of this survey 

includes a renovation to the Hotel Florence, renovation 

of housing, and the replacement of the Chicago Family 

Health Center on 115th Street, which provides services 

for the uninsured and medically underserved in the 

community. To the east of the district, Pullman Park, a 

mixed use residential and commercial development, is 

under construction.

Recent History

Left: Market Hall as a one-story building,1970. Right: The Administration building, spring 1999. Courtesy of Pullman State Historic Site.
22 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

Existing conditions

PULLMAN 

HISTORIC 

DISTRICT

The Pullman Historic District, the National Historic 

Landmark District stretching from 115th Street to 103rd

Street between Cottage Grove Avenue and the railroad 

tracks, contains many contributing buildings with a 

range of current conditions, uses, and needs. This 

section will describe selected site-specific history and 

existing conditions.

Within the Pullman Historic District is a City of 

Chicago landmark district, called the Pullman District, 

that covers three discontiguous areas. Also within the 

Pullman Historic District, the Pullman State Historic 

Site covers 13.5 acres.

Administration and Factory Complex

The Administration and Factory Complex is one of the 

two areas in Pullman owned by the State of Illinois. 

The 12.5 acre site consists of the extant North Factory 

Wing, Administration Building, and Rear Erecting 

Shops, as well as archeological remains of other factory 

infrastructure. The complex is surrounded by a chain 

link fence, and while the buildings do not have any 

permanent occupants, the Complex serves a number of 

uses and community groups both in the buildings and 

on the property. 

The buildings were left largely vacant after the factory 

closure in 1957. In 1991, the State of Illinois purchased 

the Administration and Factory Complex with the 

goal of converting the buildings into historic site and 

museum. Under the auspices of the Illinois Historic 

Preservation Agency (IHPA), the Administration 

and Factory Complex with Hotel Florence forms the 

Pullman State Historic Site. The Administration and 

Factory Complex received $890,000 in Transportation 

Enhancement funds to prepare a historic structures 

report and stabilize the Administration Building.40

In 1997, the Pullman State Historic Site was in the 

process of stabilization and projected to open as a 

historic site and museum run by the state in the early 

2000s.41 Unfortunately, a destructive arson fire struck 

the Administration and Factory Complex in December 

1998, destroying the south wing and damaging the 

Administration Building and North Factory Wing. The 

National Trust for Historic Preservation placed the 

40 USDOT/FHWA Visual Database of Transportation Enhancements, “Pullman Historic Structure Report & Emergency Stabilization,” (last updated October 30, 1995).

41 National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, “Labor 

History Theme Study: Part III” (August, 1997), 53.

Pullman Administration and Factory Complex on its list 

of most endangered historic properties in 1999, as did 

the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois.

The Administration Building and North Wing of the 

factory were stabilized and restored and the clock tower 

reconstructed between 1999 and 2007. The buildings 

are now unheated masonry shells with steel skeletons 

and concrete floors with over 53,000 square feet of 

space. Absent a planned use at the time of restoration, 

the floors were designed for high live loads. The North 

Factory wing is used for tours and special programs. 

The Rear Erecting shops are unroofed, and encompass 

36,600 square feet. In 2001, the roof was deconstructed to save the walls from collapse. The measures taken 

to cap the walls and stabilize the existing structure are 

nearing the end of their lifespan. Without intervention, 

they could collapse or deteriorate to the point that they 

would no longer be salvageable. 
National Park Service 23

Fire Station 

The North Pullman Fire Station on 108th Street is owned 

by the City of Chicago, as is an adjacent empty lot. 

Tuck-pointing, masonry stabilization and roof repair 

was done in 2012. It is currently vacant and the City has 

advertised the property for sale and reuse. 

Greenstone Church

Greenstone Church is owned by the United Methodist 

Church. It is actively used and in good condition.

Homes (General)

The majority of buildings in the district are housing, 

with over 1,000 units. In both the northern and 

southern portion of the Pullman Historic District, the 

historic workers housing individually is in a range of 

conditions from fully and accurately restored to vacant 

and deteriorating. Restoration efforts by individual 

homeowners and community development groups have 

improved the overall condition of the housing stock. 

Currently a major targeted effort by Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives and the City of Chicago in North 

Pullman continues to improve that segment of the 

neighborhood.

Hotel Florence

The Hotel Florence and Hotel Annex are owned by the 

IHPA. Previously owned and operated by the Historic 

Pullman Foundation, it had been a museum and 

restaurant. The Hotel Florence, constructed in 1881, 

is currently undergoing rehabilitation, primarily in the 

basement and on the ground floor, with new roofing 

and exterior wood restoration. Work began in late 2011 

and is expected to be complete in 2013. The 1914 Hotel 

Annex, connected to the Hotel Florence, is not undergoing rehabilitation at this time and has been mothballed since stabilization and environmental abatement 

in 2006. 

Market Square

At the center of Market Square is Market Hall, built to 

provide a venue for grocery vendors and a community 

meeting hall on the upper floors. Market Hall has been 

the scene of a series of destructive fires. The first Market 

Hall, a two-story building, was ravaged by fire in 1892. 

The second Market Hall, also designed by Beman, was 

built in 1893 as a grander three-story hall, flanked by 

four curved three-apartment buildings on each corner 

of the square. Market Hall again burned in 1931, and 

Top: Administration Building and Rear Erecting Shops. Middle 

left: Fire Station. Middle right: Houses. Bottom left: Greenstone 

Church. Bottom right: Hotel Florence.
24 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

the upper floors of the building were removed. The 

ground floor was a grocery and a tavern until another 

fire in 1973 severely damaged what remained. In 1974, 

the shell was purchased by the Historic Pullman Foundation (HPF) to save it from demolition. 

Renovation of Market Hall began in 1996, and the 

property has received grants from the City of Chicago 

and State of Illinois. In 2000, HPF received a $1.1 

million Illinois First grant to rehabilitate the Market 

Hall. What remains of the building is stabilized and 

preserved, and though publically visible, it is inaccessible and has no current use.42 Recently, streetscape 

improvements were made to the square. 

Market Square is bordered on four corners by curved 

apartment blocks. The apartment in the southwest 

quadrant is owned by the Bielenberg Historic Pullman 

House Foundation and is intended for future operation 

as a museum.

Masonic Hall (Historic Pullman Center)

Formerly a block house of individual tenements, the 

building at 614 East 113th Street was converted into a 

Masonic Hall after the Pullman Land Association sold 

the Pullman Company’s residential property. A large 

auditorium was carved out of the upper floors. Owned 

by the Historic Pullman Foundation since 1973, the 

building is known as the Historic Pullman Center and 

hosts meetings and offices. The building also provides 

storage for the Historic Pullman Foundation collections. 

Exterior restoration work was completed in 2012. 

Parks

Arcade Park and Pullman Park are the two publicly 

accessible open space areas within the Pullman Historic 

District and are managed by the Chicago Park District. 

When built in the 1880s, Arcade Park was a formal 

garden with dense plantings and the diagonally located 

Pullman Park was a pastoral green with a few trees. 

Both were razed and altered over the years. Arcade Park 

today echoes the layout of the original, but does not 

mimic it or include extensive plantings. Pullman Park 

today has a canopy of trees and curved pathways. 

42 In 1996, HPF received a grant from the City of Chicago for 

$200,000. In 2000, HPF received a $1.1 million grant from the 

Illinois First program for rehabilitation. In 2007, the City of Chicago 

undertook a streetscape improvement plan around Market Hall.

Top: Market Hall, 2012. Middle: Aerial view of Market Hall 

Bottom: Masonic Hall (Historic Pullman Center), 2012.
1

1

3

3

5 5

4 8

8

9

9

10

10

4

6

6

7

7

2

2

Administration and 

Factory Complex

Fire Station

Greenstone Church

Masonic Hall

Hotel Florence

Arcade Park

Pullman Park

Pullman Wheelworks

Stables

Market Square

Pullman

Historic

District

Location of 

select pullman 

buildings and 

landscapes
26 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

Pullman Wheelworks

The Pullman Wheelworks at 901 East 104th Street was 

built in 1903. The building was converted into 210 units 

of housing in 1980, and is currently in the final phases 

of redevelopment by Mercy Housing Lakefront and 

National Housing Trust Enterprise. The rehabilitation 

was certified by IHPA and NPS for federal rehabilitation 

tax credits. 

Stables

The stables, on 112th between Cottage Grove and S. Forestville Avenue, retain much of their historic appearance 

and are currently in use as an auto repair shop. 

There are a number of government, non-profit, and 

other organizations that preserve, protect, or rehabilitate buildings within the Pullman Historic District. This 

section will describe the mission, protection mechanisms, and real estate holdings (if any) of major groups 

in the district.

Top: Aerial view of Pullman Park and Arcade Park. Middle 

left: Pullman Wheelworks, 2012. Middle right: Aerial view of 

Pullman Wheelworks, Bottom: Stables, 2012.
National Park Service 27

Government & Community

Organizations

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (Pullman 

State Historic Site)

As the owners of the Administration and Factory 

Complex and the Hotel Florence, the State of Illinois 

has had a presence in the Pullman neighborhood 

through the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency 

(IHPA) since 1991. The state has put most of its effort 

into reconstructing, stabilizing, and restoring the 

buildings in its care. Interpretative tours and access to 

a developing research library are available by appointment, and site staff provides monthly walking tours of 

the factory site. There is a friends group in formation. 

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources planted a 

native species pilot plot on the site. 

The Pullman State Historic Site has a strong community 

focus, hosting diverse local groups on the IHPA properties, including the Bronzeville/Black Chicagoan Historical Society Birding Group, Pullman Urban Gardeners, 

and the Pullman Beekeepers. The Administration and 

Factory Complex is also a venue for special activities, 

concerts, and other gatherings. 

Over $25 million in state and federal funds have been 

expended on the state’s Pullman historic resources. This 

investment has stabilized and preserved these buildings 

for future use, though permanent use for the Administration and Factory Complex buildings has not yet been 

identified. Currently, the Hotel Florence is undergoing a 

multi-million dollar restoration that will culminate in a 

request for proposals for use of the hotel’s first floor.

City of Chicago

The City of Chicago has been the municipality of the 

Pullman neighborhood since annexation in 1889. 

Though the Pullman Historic District is a recognized 

landmark at the state and national level, it is the city 

Pullman District that provides legal protection for the 

privately owned buildings within it. The Department 

of Housing and Economic Development’s Historic 

Preservation Division administers and promotes the 

preservation of historic buildings through financial 

incentives, preservation planning, public outreach, and 

technical assistance. The Department of Housing and 

Economic Development is also staff to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, which reviews proposed 

alterations, demolitions, or new construction in Chicago 

landmark districts as part of the permit review process, 

using the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. The city also has zoning authority and the 

ability to enforce landmark and building code violations 

through administrative hearings or circut court. The 

City is a Certified Local Government.

There are a number of city-owned properties in the 

Pullman Historic District, including the North Pullman 

Fire House, the triangular site of the former Calumet 

Shops at 114th Street and Langley Avenue, and vacant 

residential parcels, especially in the northern part of the 

district. The Chicago Park District is responsible for two 

city-owned parks within the Pullman Historic District, 

Pullman Park and Arcade Park. 

Historic Pullman Foundation

The Historic Pullman Foundation (HPF) was formed in 

1973 with the mission of expanding on existing preservation efforts and involving greater resources from 

outside the community.43 A non-profit organization 

operating with a small part time and volunteer staff, 

HPF runs a tour program for visitors and school groups. 

It has also developed self-guided tours and special event 

tours. 

43 HPF was initially an outgrowth of the Beman Committee of 

the Pullman Civic Organization.

CHICAGO 

LANDMARK

DISTRICT
A. Philip Randolph 

Pullman Porter 

Museum

Pullman State 

Historic Site

City of Chicago

Historic Pullman 

Foundation

Bielenberg 

Historic Pullman 

House Foundation

Pullman

Historic

District

Landholding 

Historic 

Organizations

A. Philip Randolph 

Pullman Porter 

Museum

Arcade Park

Pullman Park

North Pullman Fire 

Station

Houses (not shown)

Historic Pullman Visitor 

Center

Market Hall

Historic Pullman Center

Southwest Market 

Square Building

641 East 111th Street

Administration Building

North Wing

Rear Erecting Shops

Hotel Florence

Hotel Annex
National Park Service 29

HPF owns and operates the Historic Pullman Visitor 

Center, open six days a week March through December, 

which houses exhibits and an auditorium space.44

Exhibits focus on community history and the history of 

the Pullman Company, with little emphasis on the strike 

or its national impacts. The foundation also owns the 

former Masonic Hall, now called the Historic Pullman 

Center, which is used for office and meeting space, as 

well as collections storage. The HPF collection includes 

thousands of photographs, organizational records, correspondence, furniture from the Hotel Florence, and architectural elements from George Pullman’s demolished 

Prairie Avenue mansion. HPF owned the Hotel Florence 

from 1975 until 1991, and operated the building until 

2000. 

Bielenberg Historic Pullman House Foundation 

David Bielenberg, founding President of the Historic 

Pullman Foundation, created the Bielenberg Historic 

Pullman House Foundation (BHPHF) in his will to 

support the interpretation of Pullman by providing 

houses that would be available for tours, working 

closely with HPF. BHPHF was incorporated as a 

non-profit in 2008 and is run by a volunteer staff. 

BHPHF received two buildings from the estate of David 

Bielenberg (Bielenberg Trust): an executive house at 

641 East 111th Street and the apartment building in the 

southwest quadrant of Market Square. The BHPHF 

house museum concept is intended to show the mix 

of housing in the district, and is intended to include an 

executive house, a flat in the Market Square apartment 

building, and a typical apartment. 

Remaining Bielenberg Trust real estate holdings are 

Block House C at 112th and Langley Avenue and a four 

flat building at 11208 South Langley Avenue, which are 

likely to be sold. 

A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum

Founded in 1995, the mission of this museum named 

for the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) 

union president is to “promote, honor and celebrate the 

legacy of A. Philip Randolph and contributions made by 

African-Americans to America’s labor movement; with 

a significant focus on the African American Railroad 

Employee.” Located at 10406 South Maryland Avenue 

in a Historic District row house, the museum’s exhibits 

and educational programs support the study, preservation, and understanding of African-American history 

and culture. In 2012, the museum launched the Black 

44 The Pullman Visitor Center is a former American Legion 

Hall on the site of the Arcade Building, a shopping and social 

building demolished in 1926.

Top: Historic Pullman Foundation’s Pullman Visitor Center. 

Middle: A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum, Bottom: 

Southwest Market Square building, recently acquired by the 

Bielenberg Historic Pullman House Foundation.
30 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

community partnerships.”48 PCO publishes a neighborhood-wide free newsletter and organizes and disseminates information about neighborhood events. PCO 

also has several task-specific standing committees.

The Beman Committee of the PCO was created in 1968 

to research and document the history of the Pullman 

neighborhood as part of efforts to receive national, state, 

and city landmark designations. The committee has 

continued as a resource for homeowners, particularly 

in South Pullman, for information about the history 

and architecture of their homes. In recent years the 

committee has published and distributed a homeowner’s manual, a continuously updated resource to assist 

homeowners in understanding landmark status and the 

restoration process.49 In 2004, the Beman Committee 

created a façade grant program, the Historic Pullman 

Homeowner’s Assistance Restoration Matching Fund. 

The fund reimburses up to $1000 for returning or 

restoring facade features based on original Beman 

designs; the program awards five to seven projects 

annually. 

The ArtSpace Committee, working with CNI and 

ArtSpace (a national developer of affordable artist 

live-work spaces in rehabilitated buildings or new 

construction) began a survey of artists and audiences in 

2011 to evaluate the demand in the district.

Millennium Reserve

The Pullman Historic District is within the core area 

of the Millennium Reserve, an initiative of the Illinois 

Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) backed by 

the federal America’s Great Outdoors (AGO) initiative to align federal programs with local conservation 

efforts. Announced in 2011, its goals are to improve the 

local environment, economy, and community by adding 

to and improving existing public spaces, honoring 

cultural and industrial past, and protecting and restoring 

natural ecosystems. Funding for the initiative has come 

from IDNR park and recreation facility construction 

grants, Coastal Zone program funding, the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service, local and federal partners, and the 

private sector. To date, there have not been any Millennium Reserve efforts specific to Pullman. 

48 The Beman Committee of the Pullman Civic Organization, 

“Homeowner Guide: Pullman Historic District,” revised February 

2013, 13.

49 The Beman Committee of the Pullman Civic Organization. 

“Homeowner Guide: Pullman Historic District.” Funding for the 

guide was provided in part by The National Park Service Challenge 

Cost Share Program.

Labor History and Cultural Studies Research Center. 

The museum is outgrowing its original home, and is 

open to relocating to another neighborhood.45

Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives

Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives (CNI), a non-profit 

community development organization, was formed in 

2010, but its roots stretch back a decade in the Pullman 

neighborhood, having grown out of the former Pullman 

Bank Initiatives. Now backed by U.S. Bank, CNI’s 

mission is to “focus on large scale commercial real estate 

development, residential neighborhood preservation, 

New Markets Tax Credits deployment and microlending” in low- and middle-income areas of Chicago’s far 

south and west sides.46

The major CNI project within the Pullman Historic 

District is rehabilitating houses in a North Pullman 

block (houses between 107th and 108th Streets on 

Cottage Grove and Champlain Avenues). Utilizing the 

Neighborhood Stabilization Program, a federally funded 

initiative, CNI rehabilitates homes and resells them to 

qualifying homeowners. In late fall of 2012, CNI had 

completed eight rehabilitations within its target block, 

with eleven slated as part of the first phase, and ten 

more identified for the future.

A major CNI project near the Pullman Historic District 

is the Pullman Park development, a phased $350 million 

mixed-use development on the site of an old steel plant 

to be completed over the next ten years. (The development has no relationship to the city park of the same 

name). The Pullman Park project includes new retail 

space, a neighborhood recreation center, and 1,100 

housing units.47 The height of these buildings is not 

projected to be tall enough to have any visual impact on 

the NHL District.

Pullman Civic Organization

The Pullman Civic Organization (PCO) was formed 

as a civil defense organization during World War II 

and reactivated in 1960 in response to plans to turn 

the district into an industrial park. It has remained 

a strong and active presence in the southern part of 

the Pullman neighborhood. Today, PCO works with 

residents “toward building a better neighborhood 

through community outreach, community events, and 

45 Lyn Hughes, “History & Background of the Museum,” A. 

Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum – 2012 Gentle Warrior 

Award Bulletin, February 2012.

46 Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, “About Us” (http://www.

cnigroup.org/aboutus.html)

47 Robert Sharoff, “Home of Chicago Rail Cars Set to Undergo 

Renovation,” The New York Times, March 20, 2012.
National Park Service 31

Additional groups with a thematic (though not physical) 

presence in Pullman are the Illinois Labor History 

Society, which has a library, produces guides, and leads 

tours of Chicago’s labor history sites; the Bronzeville 

Historical Society, which has been involved in Pullman 

through its mission to preserve and recognize the 

stories of African Americans in Chicago; Preservation 

Chicago, an activist organization that advocates for the 

preservation of historic architecture, neighborhoods 

and urban spaces; and the National Parks Conservation Association, an independent organization devoted 

to advocacy on behalf of the National Park System 

which has been a vocal proponent of NPS involvement 

in the Pullman Historic District. 

Top: Houses rehabilitated by CNI in North Pullman. Middle: An 

ongoing CNI Rehabilitation in North Pullman. Botom: Detail of 

houses in South Pullman.
32 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

Previous StudY

Over the last four decades, the historic resources of 

the Pullman neighborhood have been studied by government agencies and groups, resulting in a variety of 

recommendations. Many of them focus specifically 

on resources currently owned by the State of Illinois, 

others consider Pullman as a whole, or in a regional 

context.

The Illinois Museum of Transport and Travel in 

Pullman, 1988

This study of the Administration and Factory complex 

for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and 

the Illinois State Historical Society was prepared by 

Weese Hickey Weese Architects, Ltd. and Neil Harris, 

a professor of history at the University of Chicago. 

The study is a preliminary exploration of the concept 

of a regional museum devoted to all forms of travel 

and transportation in Northern Illinois. The Chicago 

location, size of the complex, and Pullman’s associations with transportation history were all considered 

advantageous. 

Pullman State Historic Site Prospectus, 1991

The Historic Sites Division of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency prepared the Pullman State Historic 

Site Prospectus in 1991 for the Administration and 

Factory complex. The prospectus describes the site’s 

significance, proposed use as a historic site and archive, 

and the economic and educational benefits it would 

confer on the area. The prospectus envisioned building 

and landscape restoration, museum exhibits, and a 

recreated car assembly area with costumed interpretation. 

The Pullman State Historic Site: Opportunities 

for the Future, 1993

This study for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency 

took a community-centered approach to identifying 

community revitalization and development opportunities that would be enhanced by the development of the 

Pullman State Historic Site as outlined in the 1991 Prospectus. Called the “Pullman Historic Site Community 

Planning Project,” the study makes recommendations 

for visitor circulation, landscaping, and connections 

with the Pullman and Roseland communities at large 

in aspirational language. The study was prepared by 

Camiros, Ltd.

National Park Service American Labor History 

Theme Study, 1997 and 2003

The National Park Service was directed in Public 

Law 102-101 to prepare a National Historic 

Landmark Theme Study to identify key sites nationwide in American labor history. The historic context 

component, completed in 2003, examined the history 

of workers and their work, of organizing unions and 

strikes, of the impacts of industrialization and technological change, and of the contributions of American 

labor to American history. It identifies major ideas and 

concepts in American labor history, and frequently cites 

Pullman as an example. The study recommended that 

the NHL documentation, prepared in 1970, be updated.

A component of the study completed in 1997 responded 

to the portion of the legislation requesting that the NPS 

prepare a list of the most appropriate “possible new 

park units” related to the theme. The Pullman Historic 

District was one of the 11 sites included. At the time, 

the state historic site and A. Philip Randolph Pullman 

Porter Museum were in development. NPS planners 

concluded that Pullman appeared not to be suitable 

as a new park unit because resources were adequately 

managed and protected by existing entities, with the 

exception of Market Hall, which the Historic Pullman 

Foundation owned at the time but had not yet stabilized. The potential high costs of stabilizing and developing Market Hall led the authors to conclude that 

a Pullman site was not likely to be feasible. The study 

ultimately concluded that the Pullman Historic District 

presented an excellent opportunity for partnership, and 

that it could be considered in a future locally-initiated 

study for a heritage area.

Calumet Ecological Park Feasibility Study, 1998

Prepared by the National Park Service, this special 

resource study examined the Calumet Region of 

northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana, evaluating the 

natural, cultural, and recreational resources and considering several NPS management options. The study 

found that the collection of cultural resources in the 

Calumet region were of national significance, and listed 

Pullman Historic District among them. It described the 

resources as suitable because they were multi-faceted 

and intact within their urban context, which was not 

represented in the National Park System. However, the 

study found that the cultural resources of the Calumet 

region as a whole were not feasible for addition to the 

National Park System, citing magnitude of the area, 
National Park Service 33

hazardous waste, and limited public access to many 

historic sites, some of which were active industrial sites. 

The study did not consider the suitability or feasibility of 

individual sites or districts. 

Pullman Factory Task Force Report, 2000

The Pullman Factory Task Force was a joint task force 

organized by the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago 

in 1999 to chart the future of the Administration and 

Factory Complex, the major part of the Pullman State 

Historic Site, following the devastating fire in December 

1998. The Task Force held meetings in the Pullman communities, and used interviews and small working groups 

to develop reuse scenarios for the site. The recommendation was to develop the site as a historic center and 

tourist attraction. Major steps towards accomplishing 

this would be a full conceptual study of potential visits 

and attractions, the complete stabilization and exterior 

rehabilitation of the factory buildings, and additional 

study of site archeology, environmental conditions, and 

an update to the NHL nomination.

Urban Land Institute Technical Assistance Panel 

Report: The Pullman State Historic Site, 2011

The Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) program provides 

access to strategic advice from a multi-disciplinary team 

of experts through the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in 

Chicago. The TAP was invited by the Illinois Historic 

Preservation Agency to identify short and long term 

rehabilitation strategies for the property under state 

ownership: The Factory Complex, Rear Erecting Shops, 

Hotel Florence, and Hotel Annex. The report resulting 

from the two-day panel working session identified two 

feasible redevelopment options; a mixed-use, phased redevelopment, or a labor/transportation museum with a 

national scope as recommended in the Pullman Factory 

Task Force Report. The report noted that both options 

would require a mission-driven partner to manage redevelopment, as well as both public and private monies. 

The report recommends a Phase 1 environmental and 

archeology review prior to the issuance of a request for 

proposals (RFP) for any reuse at the Factory Complex 

and Rear Erecting Shops. 

Top: Vision of the ULI TAP for cohesive community branding 

and an interpretive trail. Bottom: Proposed Champlain Avenue 

extension and streetscaping from “The Pullman State Historic 

Site: Opportunies for the Future.”
As discussed in the introduction, there are certain criteria set 

forth in law and policy that the National Park Service applies 

in determining whether to recommend an area as a potential 

new unit of the National Park System in a special resource 

study. A reconnaissance survey undertakes only a preliminary analysis of the criteria for inclusion, so the conclusions 

will summarize the potential or likelihood that the resources 

would meet the established criteria. The criteria are significance, suitability, feasibility, and need for NPS management.
PART II

Preliminary Application of the Criteria for Inclusion
36 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

For a cultural resource to be considered “nationally 

significant,” a property must be found to qualify as a 

National Historic Landmark (NHL). NHLs are cultural 

properties designated by the Secretary of the Interior as 

possessing national significance, and are cknowledged 

as among the nation’s most significant historic places.50

They must also retain a high degree of historic integrity, 

which is composed of key characteristics of location, 

design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and 

association.

Significance: The significance of the Pullman Historic 

district is definitively known, as it has already been 

designated a National Historic Landmark District. The 

district was designated as the first major planned industrial town in which an array of concerns – industrial, 

residential, recreational, cultural, and religious – were 

addressed by design; on the basis of the importance 

of the Pullman Strike of 1894 and its influence on the 

American labor movement; and for representing the 

architecture of Solon Spencer Beman.

At the time of designation in 1970, the significance of 

the district was recognized for architecture, landscape 

architecture, urban planning, and the “social/humanitarian” area of significance, which encompassed the 

1894 strike. No period of significance was identified. 

The boundaries of the NHL District were based on the 

original town, bounded by Cottage Grove Avenue on 

the west side of the district, the Illinois Central railroad 

tracks on the east, 103rd Street on the north, and 115th

Street on the south.51

Additional Likely Significance: Since 1970, the Pullman 

NHL District has come to be understood in a broader 

context. The field of labor history has evolved and come 

to greater prominence, and the “new labor history” 

approach goes outside the union narrative of marches 

and legal reforms to tell a wider story of working-class 

experiences, including women and workers of color who 

were neglected by or may never have belonged to unions. 

The new labor history pushes beyond the trade unions 

themselves to integrate labor history and social history, 

focusing on familial, communal, and cultural resources.52

50 National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, “National Register Bulletin: How to Prepare National Historic Landmark 

Nominations,” 1999.

51 National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. “National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form: 

Pullman Historic District,” 1970. 

52 ALHTS 2003, 3.

As a result, a greater segment of Pullman’s history - the 

social history of living and working in the model town 

as reflected in the buildings and landscapes - would 

likely contribute to the significance of the Pullman NHL 

District.

The American Labor History Theme Study, undertaken by NPS in phases in the late 1990s and early 2000s, 

recommended an update to the Pullman NHL District 

documentation. A revision of the NHL documentation 

was begun in 1997, but the revised draft NHL nomination was not completed or submitted for consideration 

by the NHL Committee. 

In addition to a broader understanding of Pullman in 

labor history, the district is potentially also significant 

for its role in the history of industry, commerce, and 

transportation history. The model town of Pullman took 

the company town concept to new extremes and epitomized social engineering and corporate paternalism. 

The Pullman palace car concept, in which cars were not 

bought but leased to railroads with attendants employed 

directly by the Pullman Company, was a way of selling 

a comfortable, luxury long-distance travel experience. 

Additional research into these aspects of the Pullman 

Company and its impact may yield new facets of the 

NHL District’s significance.

Another new area of understanding in the history of the 

Pullman Company is the importance of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) and their charismatic leader A. Philip Randolph in labor history and the 

civil rights movement. The hard won BSCP agreement 

with the Pullman Company became “one of the most 

important markers since Reconstruction of African-American independence from racist paternalism 

and a model for other black workers.”53

Unlike the Pullman Company’s factory workers, who 

worked at specific locations, the Pullman porters 

worked around the country across miles and miles of 

rail lines. While Pullman porters were not permitted to 

live in Pullman, excluded because of their race, many 

were employed in the major rail hub of Chicago. 54

Organizing and the quest for union recognition took 

place in a variety of locations. 55 Though there is not a 

53 ALHTS 2003, 148.

54 Hughes. African-Americans were excluded from Pullman.

55 ALHTS 2003, 102-103 and 148. Sites associated with BSCP in

Chicago include former BSCP union locations at 224 East Pershing 

Significance
National Park Service 37

direct physical connection between the BSCP and the 

Pullman NHL District, sites of organizing in Chicago 

include office and meeting space at the Metropolitan 

Community Church in Chicago, associated with the 

BSCP’s large and influential Chicago division. Pullman 

Company headquarters were at the Pullman Building on 

Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago from 1884 until 

1948.56

Thematically, the story of the Pullman porters and the 

labor struggle and triumph of the BSCP is related to 

the Pullman NHL District. Though the events of the 

BSCP story physically occurred elsewhere, the thematic 

connection to the Pullman Company and system of 

sleeping cars that George Pullman built is strong at the 

site. In the absence of other venues where the Pullman 

porter story is being told, the Pullman NHL District is 

an appropriate place to interpret the BCSP story as a 

part of the Pullman Company’s relationship with labor 

in the 19th and 20th centuries including the historic 1937 

labor agreement between the Pullman Company and 

the BSCP. The importance of that agreement adds to 

the significance of the district. Both the 1894 Pullman 

Strike and the quest for recognition by the BSCP can be 

seen as part of a larger trajectory of struggle between 

companies and a workforce often wracked by social, 

gender, and racial divisions.

Integrity: Since its designation, the Pullman NHL 

District has maintained the overall level of integrity for 

Road (1927) and 3118 Giles Avenue (1928), and site of Chicago division work at Metropolitan (Apostolic) Community Church (41st and 

King Drive), and Du Sable High School (4934 S. Wabash Avenue) 

where porters held meetings. Important BCSP organizing locations 

outside Chicago include the Paseo Baptist Church in Kansas City, 

Missouri and the Central Baptist Church of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

56 The Pullman State Historic Site, “The Pullman Building,” 

(October 2009). (http://www.pullman-museum.org/theCompany/

pullmanBuilding.html) The Pullman Building, designed by Solon 

Spencer Beman, was demolished in 1956.

which it was designated. By the time of designation in 

1970, some signature industrial building including the 

water tower, Allen Paper Wheelworks, and the Corliss 

engine house were lost, and other industrial concerns 

took their place on the eastern portion of the industrial 

heart of the district. This pattern of land use persists 

today. The overwhelming majority of residential structures remain intact. Thanks to the protection of historic 

preservation ordinances and the efforts of community 

groups, and dedicated owners, most houses continue to 

maintain excellent integrity.

Hotel Florence and the Arcade Building, circa 1883. Courtesy of the Industrial Heritage Archives at Pullman State Historic Site.

Summary: The Pullman Historic District is significant as an example of 19th century community 

planning, architecture, and landscape design, exemplifying the “principles of welfare capitalism.” It is the 

paramount example of the work of architect Solon 

Spencer Beman, who - given a commission unique 

in American architecture until that time - executed 

harmonious and efficient buildings reflecting the 

ideas and ideals of his patron. It was the site of the 

1894 Pullman Strike, one of the first truly national 

labor conflicts that resulted in a changed relationship 

between the federal government and unions. 

With additional research and documentation, other 

aspects of Pullman may be found to contribute to 

the significance of the historic district upon revision 

of the NHL documentation. Beyond the strike, the 

district reflects the social and economic history of 

manufacturing industry of the time in the ethnic 

diversity of the work force, the role of women in the 

workplace, and has a thematic tie to the story of the 

BSCP. The impact that the Pullman Company had 

on industry, commerce, and transportation history 

may also be found to contribute to the Pullman NHL 

District’s significance.
38 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

To be suitable for inclusion in the National Park System, 

an area must represent a natural or cultural theme or 

type of recreational resource that is not already adequately represented in the National Park System or is 

not comparably represented and protected for public 

enjoyment by another land-managing entity. Adequacy 

of representation is determined on a case-by-case basis 

by comparing the proposed area to other units in the 

National Park System for differences or similarities 

in the character, quality, quantity, or combination of 

resources, and opportunities for public enjoyment.

This reconnaissance survey provides a preliminary

evaluation of the study area’s suitability for inclusion in 

the National Park System by a comparative analysis of 

similarly-themed sites managed by the NPS and others. 

Because of the combination of themes present at the 

Pullman Historic District - architecture, landscape 

architecture, urban planning, industry, transportation 

history, and significant labor history events – comparable sites that match all of these aspects are difficult 

to identify. This preliminary evaluation will discuss the 

most prominent themes the Pullman Historic District illustrates, and then discuss sites within and outside of the 

National Park System that also represent those themes.

Themes

In evaluating the suitability of a cultural resource, the 

NPS uses its “Thematic Framework” for history and 

prehistory.57 An outline of major themes that help conceptualize American history, it describes eight concepts 

that encompass the multi-faceted and interrelated 

nature of human experience. The concepts are: Peopling 

Places; Creating Social Institutions; Expressing Cultural 

Values; Shaping the Political Landscape; Developing the 

American Economy; Expanding Science and Technology; Transforming the Environment; and the Changing 

Role of the United States in the World Community. The 

Pullman Historic District primarily relates to Expressing 

Cultural Values and Developing the American Economy. 

Expressing Cultural Values

This theme encompasses expressions of culture: 

people’s beliefs about themselves and the world they 

inhabit, as well as the way that people communicate 

their moral and aesthetic values. Topics that help 

define this theme include: educational and intellectual 

currents; visual and performing arts; literature; mass 

57 National Park Service, Department of the Interior, “Revision of 

the National Park Service’s Thematic Framework,” (1996). 

media; architecture, landscape architecture, and urban 

design; and popular and traditional culture.

The Pullman Historic District reflects the expression of 

cultural values through architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design. In his model factory town 

George Pullman not only sought to reflect his own 

morals, fastidiousness, and appreciation of beauty - 

through its very design and operation, he compelled 

residents and visitors to adopt them as well. The architecture of Solon Spencer Beman reflects both elegance 

and economy in the use of local brick and the absence 

of ostentatious ornament. The landscape architecture of 

the town was meant to invite enjoyment for the betterment of workers. The design of the model town and its 

control by the company were meant to create an industrial utopia. The scale and sophistication of its design as 

a planned town were unsurpassed. Famous in its own 

time, the town became infamous when the experiment 

touched off a nationwide strike.

Developing the American Economy

This theme reflects the ways Americans have worked, 

including slavery, servitude, and non-wage, as well as 

paid labor. It also reflects the ways Americans have 

materially sustained themselves by the processes of extraction, agriculture, production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Topics that help define 

this theme include extraction and production, distribution and consumption, transportation and communication, workers and work culture, labor organizations and 

protests, exchange and trade, governmental policies and 

practices, economic theory.

Pullman strongly embodies this theme, particularly the 

transportation, workers and work culture, and labor 

organizations and protests topics within it. The model 

industrial town of Pullman was an experiment in encouraging contentedness and productivity in workers 

by providing clean, reliable housing - a stark contrast 

with the unsanitary and over-crowded living conditions 

found in most working class areas at the time. The labor 

action that began with a strike at the Pullman factories 

blossomed into a boycott that attracted national 

attention and had wide repercussions for national labor. 

Though never physically present in the Pullman Historic 

District, the story of the Pullman Company’s relationship with the Pullman porters is a topic within this 

theme, reflecting work culture and labor organization.

Suitability
National Park Service 39

Comparable Sites Within the National Park System

Units within the National Park System that represent 

both Expressing Cultural Values and Developing the 

American Economy in similar ways include Paterson 

Great Falls National Historical Park, Lowell National 

Historical Park, and Keweenaw National Historical 

Park.

Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park in 

Paterson, New Jersey, preserves the site of the first 

American attempt to harness the power of a major river 

for a planned new city. Alexander Hamilton and a group 

of investors planned a manufacturing city in the early 

1790s, engaging Pierre L’Enfant to design a system of 

raceways to harness water power. The venture was a 

failure, but the group formed by the investors lived on 

to administer real estate and water rights. Eventually, a 

city as Hamilton envisioned came to be. Industries in 

Paterson included textile, silk, and locomotive manufacturing. The city of Paterson was also the site of the 1913 

silk strike, the national visibility from which helped the 

development of child labor and minimum wage laws.58

Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, Massachusetts, preserves and interprets canals, locks and the 

textile mills they powered. The mills were constructed 

in early 19th century. Over 140 acres, Lowell interprets 

the development of American industrialization as it 

occurred in one of the first and most influential planned 

industrial communities in America. Interpretive topics 

include mass production, working and living conditions, 

women and immigrants, and union organization. After 

the company construction of mill, infrastructure, and 

housing, corporate control at Lowell centered around 

providing boarding houses with strict rules for the 

mostly single, female workforce. The mills experienced 

strikes, notably in the 1830s.

Keweenaw National Historical Park on the Upper 

Peninsula of Michigan is significant for copper mining 

history. The park consists of two units 12 miles apart, 

Calumet and Quincy. Extant buildings in Calumet 

reflect the Calumet and Hecla Company’s provisions 

for their workers – they constructed or sponsored the 

construction of the library, schools, and churches. There 

are also houses built by the company for their workers, 

typically clustered around the mine shafts, within the 

58 The Pietro and Maria Botto House in Paterson, designated as 

an NHL for its association with the strike, is not within Paterson 

Great Falls National Historical Park.

Top: Boot Mill Courtyard at Lowell National Historical Park. Middle: 

C&H Pattern Storage Building, Keweenaw National Historical Park. 

Bottom: Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park.
40 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

limited financial assistance. The John Chaffee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, Rivers 

of Steel National Heritage Area, Delaware and Lehigh 

National Heritage Corridor, and MotorCities National 

Heritage Area all interpret manufacturing and industrialization in their areas.

Comparable Sites Outside the National Park System

There are many National Historic Landmarks and 

NHL Districts that represent labor and working life, 

architecture, or community planning and development. 

Few represent these elements in combination and are 

preserved for public enjoyment. Founded a few years 

after Pullman, the Ybor Historic District in Tampa, 

Florida, contains the country’s largest inventory of cigar 

industry buildings and a collection of workers’ housing 

and ethnic clubs that represent an unusual multiracial, 

multiethnic industrial community in the Deep South.59

The Ybor City Museum State Park interprets the history 

of Ybor City.

Other company towns where corporate paternalism took some form, such as Gary, Indiana (United 

States Steel Corporation), Marktown, Indiana (Mark 

Manufacturing Company), Gwinn, Michigan (Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company), Endicott and Johnson 

City, New York (Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company), 

McDonald, Ohio (Carnegie Steel Company), Ambridge, 

Pennsylvania (American Bridge Company), Hershey, 

59 ALHTS 2003, 140.

Calumet unit. Calumet was affected by the unsuccessful nine-month Copper Country Strike of 1913-1914. 

Several Keweenaw Heritage Sites (partner sites) are 

museums interpreting the lives of mine laborers. Unlike 

industrial towns on the outskirts of larger metropolitan 

areas like Pullman or Lowell, the Keweenaw Peninsula 

was relatively isolated, and providing worker housing 

was a necessity. 

Existing NPS units representing different time periods 

that focus on labor history, though not labor organization, include Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front 

National Historical Park and Saugus Iron Works National 

Historic Site. Sites including Steamtown National Historic 

Site, Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, 

and Golden Spike National Historic Site tell the story 

of railroads, but do not represent production or labor 

conflict. A site that interprets manufacturing labor 

organization within the National Park System is the 

Kate Mullany House National Historic Site, an affiliated area that preserves and interprets the home of a 

labor organizer in the detachable collar manufacturing 

industry.

Many National Heritage Areas interpret manufacturing 

resources and labor stories across larger landscapes. 

National Heritage Areas (NHAs) are designated by 

Congress as places where natural, cultural, and historic 

resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally 

important landscape; they are run by grassroots-organized entities and draw on NPS for technical and 

Looking east from the top of the Arcade Building, 1883. Courtesty of the Paul Petraitis Collection at Pullman State Historic Site.
National Park Service 41

Pennsylvania (Hershey Chocolate Company), Alcoa, 

Tennessee (Aluminum Company of America), and 

Kohler, Wisconsin (The Kohler Company), have either 

limited integrity or are not preserved or interpreted for 

public enjoyment. 

The Pullman Historic District and the three sites most 

comparable to it (Paterson, Lowell, and Keweenaw) share 

similar themes, but Pullman presents a unique combination of historic resources that embody those themes 

related to architecture, landscape, and urban planning 

as well as labor organizing and protest history.

Paterson, Lowell, and Keweenaw all had some 

corporate planning of their communities. In the case 

of Paterson and Lowell, the planning for these new 

cities was centered on the provision of water power 

for factories. At Pullman, the planning was complete, 

leaving no aspect of the town undersigned (or, later, uncontrolled) by the company. If Paterson Great Falls represents early industrial planning activity in the United 

State and Lowell represents its flowering, then later 

developments at Pullman represent industrial maturity 

and an all-encompassing design approach to solving 

the urban social problems industrial maturity created. 

Keweenaw, representing the isolated company towns of 

the extractive industries, is not as closely connected to 

the urban industrial setting at Pullman. 

Lowell and Keweenaw both mention corporate paternalism as being present in the history of their sites, and 

all three sites experienced some labor unrest. However, 

the intensity of corporate control at Pullman went far 

beyond other industrial towns, and the labor issues that 

sprang directly from corporate paternalism were highly 

historically significant and had a nation-wide scope and 

impact. That the history of corporate paternalism at 

Pullman fed directly into the 1894 Pullman Strike is a 

connection that cannot be understated and is not shared 

by the labor conflict at Paterson, Lowell, or Keweenaw.

Left: Pullman residents on the 11300 Block of Forestville Avenue, mid-1890s. Courtesy of the Industrial Heritage Archives at 

Pullman State Historic Site. Middle: Pullman residents on Champain Avenue. Courtesy of the Mario Avignone Collection at Pullman 

State Historic Site. Right: Pullman porters and conductors, Montauk, New York, 1939. Courtesy of Pullman State Historic Site.

Summary: The Pullman Historic District seems to 

represent a unique combination of themes in a time 

period of American industrialization and labor not 

represented in the National Park System or adequately preserved and interpreted elsewhere; it is likely 

a full special resource study would have a positive 

finding for suitability.
42 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

To be feasible as a new unit of the National Park System, 

an area must be of sufficient size and appropriate configuration to ensure long term protection of the resources 

and to accommodate public use. It must have potential 

for efficient administration at a reasonable cost. 

Important feasibility factors include landownership, 

acquisition costs, staff and development requirements, 

access, existing degradation or threats to the resources, 

the socioeconomic impacts of designation, and public 

support. The evaluation also considers the ability of the 

NPS to undertake new management responsibilities in 

light of current and projected constraints on funding 

and personnel.

The preliminary assessment of feasibility includes 

potential for public enjoyment, potential acquisition and 

development costs and staffing requirements, and level 

of local public support. Because the reconnaissance 

survey does not develop specific proposals for management, the feasibility can only be discussed generally. The 

landownership patterns, planned future use of the study 

area, and contamination issues are described above in 

Part I: Historic Context and Existing Conditions. 

Potential for Public Enjoyment

Providing opportunities for public enjoyment is an 

important part of the NPS mission. Public enjoyment 

means providing opportunities that are appropriate to 

the purpose for which the park was established, and that 

can be sustained without causing unacceptable impacts. 

For cultural resources, these opportunities are frequently educational and interpretive experiences in historic 

spaces. Sites within the National Park System provide 

these experiences differently depending on the size and 

type of resource.

The Pullman Historic District as a whole has the 

potential for public enjoyment, even without interior 

access to buildings, since much of the planning and 

architecture of the district can be experienced from 

the street. Regular access to the industrial buildings 

and museum exhibits at Pullman addressing the 

town’s planning and role in the 1894 Pullman Strike 

would increase opportunities beyond what is currently 

available. 

Also central to the Pullman Historic District labor story 

is the life and accommodation of workers. Understanding that story would be substantially enhanced if historic 

housing units were available to public interpretation. 

The potential for interior workers’ housing interpretation is present in the plans for the Bielenberg Historic 

Pullman House Foundation, assisted by the Historic 

Pullman Foundation, though it may be many years 

before funds and staffing enable those organizations to 

restore them and present regular programs.

Potential Acquisition and Development Costs 

and Staffing Requirements

The potential development costs of a national park 

unit at Pullman are dependent on the boundaries of 

a potential site and which buildings would be the responsibility of the NPS. Without a proposal for which 

resources in the Pullman Historic District would be 

within a park boundary or managed and protected 

by the NPS and what level of visitor services may be 

required, estimates for development costs cannot be 

developed. 

Typically, NPS acquires properties by donation or from 

a willing seller within its authorized boundary. Acquisition costs cannot be estimated without a proposed 

boundary and knowledge of the disposition of current 

property owners; both are outside the scope of a reconnaissance survey. Acquisition and development of the 

Pullman Historic District’s large underutilized buildings 

may prove financially infeasible in light of current NPS 

responsibilities and projected appropriation levels.

Staffing requirements are also contingent on the size of 

a site and the intensity of operations. Because size and 

scope of a potential unit of the National Park System at 

Pullman is uncertain, the staffing requirements cannot 

be estimated. 

Thematically comparable sites and other historic sites 

in metropolitan areas can offer examples of operational costs. The table above shows several examples and 

shows the acreage within park boundaries (not all of 

which is necessarily owned by NPS); full-time-equivalent staffing levels, and annual operational funding (this 

does not include project funding for large capital improvements, exhibits, or major planning documents.) 

Lowell National Historical Park is the most intensive in 

terms of staff and budget; the park also has a larger legislative mandate to work with partner groups in Lowell 

to preserve and interpret the history there. Keweenaw 

National Historical Park has unique legislation as a 

partnership park. Least intensive is New Orleans Jazz 

National Historical Park, which does not own any 

FEasibility
National Park Service 43

National Park Unit Acres Staffing (FTE) Annual Operational 

Funding

Lowell National Historical Park 141 91 $10,131,000

Keweenaw National Historical Park 1,870 22 $1,561,000

Springfield Armory National Historic Site 55 15 $1,509,000

Martin Luther King National Historic Site 39 37 $4,239,000

Ford’s Theater National Historic Site >1 29 $1,505,000

New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park 5 7 $1,321,000

Table 1: Size, staffing, and cost for sample existing NPS units. Amounts are from fiscal year 2010, the most recent year available 

for all units. Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park was not a unit of the National Park System until 2011.

related historic assets, but offers walking tours and 

interpretive exhibits about the jazz heritage of the Tremé 

neighborhood. Each park has different boundaries and 

a different mandate, enshrined either in legislation or 

the presidential proclamation that set them aside for 

protection and public enjoyment. 

As part of a special resource study, a joint powers 

agreement between local, state and federal government 

entities could be explored. The outcome of such an 

agreement might impact potential costs of a future site. 

Illinois’s Intergovernmental Cooperation Act allows for 

an intergovernmental cooperation agreement between 

a state agency and other units of government to share 

resources and staff capacity. 60

Level of Local Public Support

In a reconnaissance survey, public input is not formally 

sought as it would be in a special resource study, so a determination about support for NPS involvement would 

be incomplete.

Support for National Park Service involvement in the 

district has been expressed by preservation and interpretation organizations within the district during 

the preparation of this reconnaissance survey, and by 

boosters in the community to news outlets.61 Municipal 

support was expressed by the Chicago Mayor and City 

Council in a March 2013 resolution urging Congress 

to establish a national historical park or the president 

to use the executive authority of the Antiquities Act 

to bring an unspecified area of the district into the 

National Park System.62

60 5 ILCS 220/1 et seq.

61 Melissa Harris, “Boosters want to turn Pullman into national 

park,” The Chicago Tribune, (March 10, 2013).

62 Chicago City Council Resolution, March 13, 2013.

Summary: Due to the variations in potential configurations and mandates for an area as large as the 

Pullman Historic District, the potential feasibility of 

the site, especially when related to costs and partnerships, cannot be evaluated; the NPS makes no 

preliminary finding at this time. A special resource 

study would be needed to fully assess the interest of 

property owners, possible commitments from private 

and/or public partners, and the degree of direct 

responsibility the NPS would have for the restoration 

and development of the site. 

In the event a full special resource study were authorized, a finding of feasibility would rely heavily on the 

existence of a strong partnership with a consortium 

of private and public organizations. Evaluation of that 

complexity is outside the scope of a reconnaissance 

survey.
44 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

The final criterion for potential new park units, need for 

direct NPS management, will be discussed briefly. To 

be recommended as a unit of the National Park System, 

an area must require direct NPS management, and that 

management must be clearly superior to other possible 

management options. Because management options are 

not developed in a reconnaissance survey, this section 

will consider unmet needs in the Pullman Historic 

District. 

As discussed in Existing Conditions, the historic 

resources of the Pullman neighborhood are in a variety 

of stewardships and uses. Private homes are for the most 

part in good repair and protected by private individuals 

under city historic preservation ordinances. No one 

group dominates the stewardship of historic resources 

in the Pullman Historic District. Existing community 

groups, nonprofits, and the state are all working at 

capacity in Pullman. There is no need for NPS management of those resources. 

Yet there are unfilled needs for preservation, regular 

public access, and comprehensive interpretation. The 

most prominent instance of unmet need is the Administration and Factory Complex. The buildings have 

been in search of a permanent use for decades. While 

the North Wing and the grounds themselves are used 

by community groups and for special events, they 

are not regularly accessible to the general public and 

at this time the Pullman State Historic Site does not 

offer any permanent exhibits. The question of how to 

program the ample space at the Administration and 

Factory Complex has been the topic of much study, and 

further exploration of how it could be used under NPS 

ownership would require more study.

Need for direct

NPS Management

Top: Worker with a finished Pullman Car on transfer table. 

Courtesy of the Industrial Heritage Archives at Pullman State 

Historic Site. Bottom: Arcade Park, 1898. Courtesy of Pullman 

State Historic Site.

Summary: A full study may determine that there is 

a need for NPS management, or that existing management is adequate if supported by targeted NPS 

programmatic assistance. Because of the strength of 

existing organizations, it seems that if NPS were to 

have a role in Pullman, it would be more effective as 

part of that system, rather than wholly relieving any 

current group of their responsibilities. 
National Park Service 45

Conclusion &

Recommendations

The Pullman Historic District is conclusively nationally significant. The NPS reiterates the recommendation made in the American Labor History 

Theme Study to update the NHL documentation 

for the Pullman NHL District. In a preliminary 

evaluation of suitability, the Pullman Historic 

District appears likely to be found to represent a 

resource not preserved and interpreted for public 

enjoyment elsewhere by the NPS or comparably 

by another entity in a full special resource study. 

The preliminary evaluations of feasibility and 

need for direct NPS management are challenging 

in a large district with a variety of possible NPS 

responsibilities. Due to the complexity of potential 

management configurations, partnerships, and 

costs in the Pullman Historic District, the likelihood of feasibility cannot be evaluated within the 

constraints of this reconnaissance survey. 

It is the conclusion of this preliminary evaluation 

that the Pullman Historic District could possibly 

meet the criteria for inclusion in the National Park 

System if further studied. Therefore, NPS recommends that a full special resource study be authorized to fully analyze the criteria, invite public 

involvement, and develop potential management 

alternatives.

Top: Interior of the Administration Building, 2012. Bottom: 

529-531 East 112th Street, 2012.

National Park Service 47

Bates, Beth Tompkins. Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest 

Politics in Black America 1925-1945. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

The Beman Committee of the Pullman Civic Organization. 

“Homeowner Guide: Pullman Historic District,” revised 

February 2013. (http://www.pullmancivic.org/beman/homeownersGuide.pdf)

Buder, Stanley. Pullman: An Expiriment in Industrial Order 

and Community Planning, 1880-1930. New York, NY: Oxford 

University Press, 1967.

Camiros, Ltd. “The Pullman State Historic Site: Opportunities 

for the Future.” Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, January 

1993.

Carwardine, Rev. William H. The Pullman Strike. Chicago: 

Charles H. Kerr and Company, 1894; reprinted 1969 (Arno & 

The New York Times).

Chicago City Council Resolution, March 13, 

2013. http://chicago.legistar.com/View.ashx-

?M=F&ID=2372396&GUID=F3B6397D-519C-4FA9-9E55-

1ED1844714A6, accessed April 22, 2013.

Doty, Mrs. Duane. The Town of Pullman Illustrated: Its Growth 

with Brief Accounts of Its Industries. 

Chicago, IL: T.P. Struhsacker, Publisher, 1893; reprint 1974 

(Pullman Civic Organization) and 1991 (Historic Pullman 

Foundation).

History of the Federal Judiciary. “The Debs Case: Labor, 

Capital, and the Federal Courts of the 1890s,” Web site of the 

Federal Judicial Center, Washington, D.C. http://www.fjc.gov/

history/home.nsf/page/tu_debs_narrative.html, accessed May 

1, 2013.

Harris, Melissa. “Boosters want to turn Pullman into national 

park.” The Chicago Tribune, March 10, 2013.

Hirsch, Susan Eleanor. After the Strike: A Century of Labor 

Struggle at Pullman. Urbana and Chicago, IL: University of 

Illinois Press, 2003.

Historic Sites Division, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. 

“Pullman State Historic Site Prospectus.” 1991. Third Edition. 

Hughes, Lyn. An Anthology of Respect: The Pullman Porters 

National Historic Registry of African American Railroad 

Employees. Chicago, IL: Hughes Peterson Publishing, 2009. 

Bibliography

Hughes, Lyn. “History & Background of the Museum,” 

A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum – 2012 Gentle 

Warrior Award Bulletin, February 2012.

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Historic Sites Division. 

“Pullman State Historic Site Prospectus,” 1991.

Lindsey, Almont. The Pullman Strike: The Story of a Unique 

Experiment and of a Great Labor Upheaval. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1942. 

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. 

“Calumet Ecological Park Feasibility Study.” August 1998. 

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. 

“Labor History Theme Study: Part III.” August, 1997. 

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. 

“National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination 

Form: Pullman Historic District.” 1970.

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. 

“National Register of Historic Places, Multiple Property Documentation Form: American Labor History Theme Study.” 

January, 2003. 

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. 

“National Register Bulletin: How to Prepare National Historic 

Landmark Nominations.” 1999. 

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. 

“Revision of the National Park Service’s Thematic 

Framework.” 1996. 

Pointner, N.J. Planning Connections: Human, Natural, and 

Man Made. Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, 2008. .

Pullman Factory Task Force. “Pullman Factory Task Force 

Interim Report to Governor George H. Ryan and Mayor 

Richard M. Daley.” December 15, 1999.

Pullman Factory Task Force. “Pullman Factory Task Force 

Final Report to Governor George H. Ryan and Mayor 

Richard M. Daley: Appendix I.” June 28, 2000.

Pullman Factory Task Force. “Pullman Factory Task Force 

Final Report to Governor George H. Ryan and Mayor 

Richard M. Daley: Appendix II.” June 28, 2000.

The Pullman State Historic Site, “The Pullman Building,” 

October 2009. http://www.pullman-museum.org/theCompany/pullmanBuilding.html, accessed April 23, 2013.

Sharoff, Robert. “Home of Chicago Rail Cars Set to Undergo 

Renovation.” The New York Times, March 20, 2012.

Tye, Larry. Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the 
48 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

Making of the Black Middle Class. New York: Henry Holt and 

Company, 2004. 

Urban Land Institute Chicago. “The Pullman State Historic 

Site: A Technical Assistance Panel Report.” October 17-18, 

2011 (released May 2012). 

USDOT/FHWA Visual Database of Transportation Enhancements. “Pullman Historic Structure Report & Emergency Stabilization.” last updated October 30, 1995. http://ntl.bts.gov/

lib/1000/1700/1728/ile03.html, accessed February 13,2013.

Weese Hickey Weese Architects Ltd. And Neil Harris. “The 

Illinois Museum of Transport and Travel in Pullman.” Illinois 

Historic Preservation Agency and Illinois State Historical 

Society, July 1988.

White, John H. The American Railroad Passenger Car. 

Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985.

Image Credits

HAER: Historic American Engineering Record

IHA: Industrial Heritage Archives at Pullman State Historic Site

LOC: Library of Congress

NPS: National Park Service

PSHS: Pullman State Historic Si9te

4: IHA; Paul Patraitis Collection at PSHS; NPS.

7: Google.

8: LOC, detail of HAER Drawing of Pullman 1886, north of 

111th Street. HAER ILL,16-CHIG,102.

9: IHA.

10: White, 315.

12: IHA.

13: PSHS.

14: White, 354; LOC.

15: IHA.

16: IHA.

18: Harper’s Magazine (LOC)

19: Life Magazine; Life Magazine.

20: LOC, HAER ILL,16-CHIG,102.

21: NPS; PSHS.

23: NPS; NPS; NPS; NPS; NPS.

24: NPS; Bing; NPS.

26: Bing; NPS; Bing; NPS.

29: NPS; NPS; NPS

31: NPS; NPS; NPS.

33: ULI; Camiros, Ltd.

34: NPS.

35: NPS.

37: IHA.

39: NPS; NPS; NPS.

40: Paul Petraitis Collection at PSHS.

41: IHA; Mario Avignone Collection at PSHS; PSHS.

44: IHA; PSHS.

45: NPS; NPS.

46: Covers of “Pullman Facts” Brochures No.s 2, 4, and 6, 

from a series of 12, 1929. PSHS.

50: PSHS.

Back Cover: LOC, detail of HAER Drawing of Pullman 

1886, south of 111th Street. HAER ILL,16-CHIG,102.
National Park Service 49

Adequacy of representation is determined on a case-by-case 

basis by comparing the potential addition to other comparably managed areas representing the same resource type, while 

considering differences or similarities in the character, quality, 

quantity, or combination of resource values. The comparative 

analysis also addresses rarity of the resources, interpretive 

and educational potential, and similar resources already 

protected in the national park system or in other public or 

private ownership. The comparison results in a determination 

of whether the proposed new area would expand, enhance, 

or duplicate resource protection or visitor use opportunities 

found in other comparably managed areas.

1.3.3 Feasibility

To be feasible as a new unit of the national park system, an 

area must be (1) of sufficient size and appropriate configuration to ensure sustainable resource protection and visitor 

enjoyment (taking into account current and potential impacts 

from sources beyond proposed park boundaries), and (2) 

capable of efficient administration by the Service at a reasonable cost. 

In evaluating feasibility, the Service considers a variety of 

factors for a study area, such as the following:

•	 size

•	 boundary configurations

•	 current and potential uses of the study area and surrounding lands

•	 landownership patterns

•	 public enjoyment potential

•	 costs associated with acquisition, development, restoration, and operation

•	 access

•	 current and potential threats to the resources

•	 existing degradation of resources

•	 staffing requirements

•	 local planning and zoning

•	 the level of local and general public support (including 

landowners)

•	 the economic/socioeconomic impacts of designation as a 

unit of the national park system

The feasibility evaluation also considers the ability of the 

National Park Service to undertake new management responsibilities in light of current and projected availability of 

funding and personnel. 

An overall evaluation of feasibility will be made after taking 

into account all of the above factors. However, evaluations 

may sometimes identify concerns or conditions, rather than 

simply reach a yes or no conclusion. For example, some new 

APPENDIX a

National Park Service Management Policies 2006: 

1.3 Criteria for Inclusion

Congress declared in the National Park System General 

Authorities Act of 1970 that areas comprising the national 

park system are cumulative expressions of a single national 

heritage. Potential additions to the national park system 

should therefore contribute in their own special way to a 

system that fully represents the broad spectrum of natural and 

cultural resources that characterize our nation. The National 

Park Service is responsible for conducting professional 

studies of potential additions to the national park system 

when specifically authorized by an act of Congress, and for 

making recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior, the 

President, and Congress. Several laws outline criteria for units 

of the national park system and for additions to the National 

Wild and Scenic Rivers System and the National Trails System. 

To receive a favorable recommendation from the Service, 

a proposed addition to the national park system must (1) 

possess nationally significant natural or cultural resources, (2) 

be a suitable addition to the system, (3) be a feasible addition 

to the system, and (4) require direct NPS management instead 

of protection by other public agencies or the private sector. 

These criteria are designed to ensure that the national park 

system includes only the most outstanding examples of the 

nation’s natural and cultural resources. These criteria also 

recognize that there are other management alternatives for 

preserving the nation’s outstanding resources.

1.3.1 National Significance

NPS professionals, in consultation with subject-matter 

experts, scholars, and scientists, will determine whether a 

resource is nationally significant. An area will be considered 

nationally significant if it meets all of the following criteria:

•	 It is an outstanding example of a particular type of 

resource.

•	 It possesses exceptional value or quality in illustrating 

or interpreting the natural or cultural themes of our 

nation’s heritage.

•	 It offers superlative opportunities for public enjoyment 

or for scientific study.

•	 It retains a high degree of integrity as a true, accurate, 

and relatively unspoiled example of a resource. 

•	 National significance for cultural resources will be 

evaluated by applying the National Historic Landmarks 

criteria contained in 36 CFR Part 65 (Code of Federal 

Regulations).

1.3.2 Suitability

An area is considered suitable for addition to the national 

park system if it represents a natural or cultural resource type 

that is not already adequately represented in the national park 

system, or is not comparably represented and protected for 

public enjoyment by other federal agencies; tribal, state, or 

local governments; or the private sector.
50 Pullman Historic District Reconnaissance Survey

areas may be feasible additions to the national park system 

only if landowners are willing to sell, or the boundary encompasses specific areas necessary for visitor access, or state 

or local governments will provide appropriate assurances 

that adjacent land uses will remain compatible with the study 

area’s resources and values.

1.3.4 Direct NPS Management

There are many excellent examples of the successful management of important natural and cultural resources by 

other public agencies, private conservation organizations, 

and individuals. The National Park Service applauds these 

accomplishments and actively encourages the expansion of 

conservation activities by state, local, and private entities and 

by other federal agencies. Unless direct NPS management of 

a studied area is identified as the clearly superior alternative, 

the Service will recommend that one or more of these other 

entities assume a lead management role, and that the area not 

receive national park system status. 

Studies will evaluate an appropriate range of management 

alternatives and will identify which alternative or combination 

of alternatives would, in the professional judgment of the 

Director, be most effective and efficient in protecting significant resources and providing opportunities for appropriate 

public enjoyment. Alternatives for NPS management will not 

be developed for study areas that fail to meet any one of the 

four criteria for inclusion listed in section 1.3. 

In cases where a study area’s resources meet criteria for 

national significance but do not meet other criteria for 

inclusion in the national park system, the Service may instead 

recommend an alternative status, such as “affiliated area.” To 

be eligible for affiliated area status, the area’s resources must 

(1) meet the same standards for significance and suitability 

that apply to units of the national park system; (2) require 

some special recognition or technical assistance beyond what 

is available through existing NPS programs; (3) be managed in 

accordance with the policies and standards that apply to units 

of the national park system; and (4) be assured of sustained 

resource protection, as documented in a formal agreement 

between the Service and the nonfederal management entity. 

Designation as a “heritage area” is another option that may 

be recommended. Heritage areas have a nationally important, 

distinctive assemblage of resources that is best managed 

for conservation, recreation, education, and continued use 

through partnerships among public and private entities at the 

local or regional level. Either of these two alternatives (and 

others as well) would recognize an area’s importance to the 

nation without requiring or implying management by the 

National Park Service.

“Types of Pullman Homes,” by Duane Doty, 1896. Courtesy of 

Pullman State Historic Site.
National Park Service 51

National Historic Landmark Criteria 

36 CFR § 65.4 

The criteria applied to evaluate properties for possible designation as National Historic Landmarks or possible determination of eligibility for National Historic Landmark designation are listed below. These criteria shall be used by NPS in 

the preparation, review and evaluation of National Historic 

Landmark studies. They shall be used by the Advisory 

Board in reviewing National Historic Landmark studies and 

preparing recommendations to the Secretary. Properties shall 

be designated National Historic Landmarks only if they are 

nationally significant. Although assessments of national significance should reflect both public perceptions and professional judgments, the evaluations of properties being considered 

for landmark designation are undertaken by professionals, 

including historians, architectural historians, archeologists 

and anthropologists familiar with the broad range of the 

nation’s resources and historical themes. The criteria applied 

by these specialists to potential landmarks do not define 

significance nor set a rigid standard for quality. Rather, the 

criteria establish the qualitative framework in which a comparative professional analysis of national significance can 

occur. The final decision on whether a property possesses 

national significance is made by the Secretary on the basis of 

documentation including the comments and recommendations of the public who participate in the designation process.

(a) Specific Criteria of National Significance: The quality of 

national significance is ascribed to districts, sites, buildings, 

structures and objects that possess exceptional value or 

quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United 

States in history, architecture, archeology, engineering and 

culture and that possess a high degree of integrity of location, 

design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, and:

(1) That are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to, and are identified with, or that outstandingly represent, the broad national patterns of United States 

history and from which an understanding and appreciation of 

those patterns may be gained; or

(2) That are associated importantly with the lives of persons 

nationally significant in the history of the United States; or

(3) That represent some great idea or ideal of the American 

people; or

(4) That embody the distinguishing characteristics of an 

architectural type specimen exceptionally valuable for a study 

of a period, style or method of construction, or that represent 

a significant, distinctive and exceptional entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or

(5) That are composed of integral parts of the environment 

not sufficiently significant by reason of historical association 

or artistic merit to warrant individual recognition but collectively compose an entity of exceptional historical or artistic 

significance, or outstandingly commemorate or illustrate a 

way of life or culture; or

(6) That have yielded or may be likely to yield information of 

major scientific importance by revealing new cultures, or by 

shedding light upon periods of occupation over large areas 

of the United States. Such sites are those which have yielded, 

or which may reasonably be expected to yield, data affecting 

theories, concepts and ideas to a major degree.

(b) Ordinarily, cemeteries, birthplaces, graves of historical 

figures, properties owned by religious institutions or used 

for religious purposes, structures that have been moved from 

their original locations, reconstructed historic buildings and 

properties that have achieved significance within the past 

50 years are not eligible for designation. Such properties, 

however, will qualify if they fall within the following categories:

(1) A religious property deriving its primary national significance from architectural or artistic distinction or historical 

importance; or

(2) A building or structure removed from its original location 

but which is nationally significant primarily for its architectural merit, or for association with persons or events of transcendent importance in the nation’s history and the association 

consequential; or

(3) A site of a building or structure no longer standing but the 

person or event associated with it is of transcendent importance in the nation’s history and the association consequential; or

(4) A birthplace, grave or burial if it is of a historical figure of 

transcendent national significance and no other appropriate 

site, building or structure directly associated with the productive life of that person exists; or

(5) A cemetery that derives its primary national significance 

from graves of persons of transcendent importance, or from 

an exceptionally distinctive design or from an exceptionally 

significant event; or

(6) A reconstructed building or ensemble of buildings of extraordinary national significance when accurately executed in 

a suitable environment and presented in a dignified manner as 

part of a restoration master plan, and when no other buildings 

or structures with the same association have survived; or

(7) A property primarily commemorative in intent if design, 

age, tradition, or symbolic value has invested it with its own 

national historical significance; or

(8) A property achieving national significance within the past 

50 years if it is of extraordinary national importance.

Appendix B