There were more than 1,000 labor-related strikes in the state. At a labor assembly near the Haymarket in Chicago, a bomb exploded killing over 75 people. As a result, some labor leaders were sentenced to death, and the progress of organized labor was slowed. 1889 Jane Addams opened Hull House in the worst slum district on the West Side of Chicago. In response to an economic depression, the Pullman Railway Car Company lays off workers but does not lower rents in the Pullman village.
Workers demand higher wages and lower rents, the company refuses to negotiate.
Pullman workers go on strike. The American Railway Union joins the Pullman workers to boycott the Pullman Company Railway cars. The strike paralyzes the Illinois economy. The Federal Government intervenes and ends the strike.