President Barack Obama in Chicago Thursday to Designate Pullman Historic District with National Park Status

President Barack Obama will travel to Chicago on February 19, 2015 to designate railroad mogul George Pullman’s factory town a national monument. The Pullman Neighborhood, the historic South Side neighborhood that is already designated as a Chicago Landmark, will be upgraded to national park status. The Pullman Neighborhood will become the city’s first national park. Originally the Pullman area — a factory city that produced the Pullman sleeping car — was outside the city limits of Chicago. The factory city was built in the 1880s by George Pullman.

“The people who are part of the Pullman legacy helped to shape America as we know it today. Pullman workers fought for fair labor conditions in the late 19th century, and the Pullman porters helped advance America’s civil rights movement.

The designation of Pullman as a national monument will further showcase the commitment of President Obama to diversify our national parks and preserve the places that define who we are as a nation. Thanks to the president, Pullman’s story will soon be remembered and recounted for the millions of people that visit America’s national parks each year.”

— National Parks Conservation Association Midwest Director Lynn McClure

The Pullman District or Pullman Historic District is defined as a community area that has included many historic and architecturally significant buildings, including the Hotel Florence, the Arcade Building (destroyed in the 1920s), the Clock Tower and Factory with the complex surrounding Market Square, and Greenstone Church. In the adjacent Kensington neighborhood of the nearby Roseland district is the home of one of the many beautiful churches in Chicago built in Polish Cathedral style, the former church of St. Salomea. It is now used by Salem Baptist Church of Chicago.

United States Blackhawk and V-22 Osprey aircraft were observed in the area of the Bishop Ford Expressway and 115th Street.

 V-22 OSPREY …