Tour leaders: Crystal Johnson, Chicago History Museum; Martin Tuohy, Pullman State Historic Site; Hank Bell, Pullman National Historical Park

The 1881 Pullman Car Works and Hotel Florence, located 15 miles and 30 minutes directly south of downtown Chicago, offer a rare chance to learn how historians, archivists, and curators interpret a massive 1880s industrial complex amid competing interpretations of what matters.

The tour will visit the unrestored 1881 Front Erecting Shops, the Rear Erecting Shops, and the recently rehabilitated Pullman Administration Building. The tour will explore the 1880s–1930s interchange between persons who came to Pullman from England, Prussia, Italy, Japan, and elsewhere and the Pullman Company’s export of Chicago-built cars to Manchuria, Central and South America, South Africa, Italy, and England. If weather allows, the group will visit the car works’ superintendent’s restored house (now home to a coffee shop and house tour).

Please note: The tour will travel via public transit and walk to and from the 11th Street–Museum Campus Metra station. The Pullman station is not accessible, with approximately 100 steps. Alternative, accessible transportation will be available on request. Participants will have the option to purchase snacks at the Pullman Coffee Club.

Limit: 24 people. $40 members, $50 nonmembers.