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The administration building of the Pullman Palace Car Co. in Chicago. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Obama could make Chicago’s Pullman site national park

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
The administration building of the Pullman Palace Car Co. in Chicago. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
The administration building of the Pullman Palace Car Co. in Chicago. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

 

CHICAGO (AP) – Chicago’s historic Pullman neighborhood soon may be closer to becoming a national park.

National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis tells The Associated Press that he plans to recommend that the Interior Secretary ask President Obama to declare the southeast Chicago neighborhood a unit of the national park system.

Supporters say it is unlikely Congress will act on bills in the House and Senate. So, they want Obama to use his authority to act independently under the Antiquities Act.

The neighborhood’s ornate brick homes were built in the 1800s by industrialist George Pullman as a blue-collar utopia to house workers from his sleeper-car factory.

Supporters say the neighborhood also is significant for its place in revolutionizing the railroad industry and its contributions to the African-American labor movement.

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AP-WF-08-23-14 1431GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

The administration building of the Pullman Palace Car Co. in Chicago. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
The administration building of the Pullman Palace Car Co. in Chicago. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.