West Pullman Park

West Pullman Park was created by the West Pullman Park District, one of 22 independent park commissions consolidated into the Chicago Park District in 1934. In 1891, the West Pullman Land Association began subdividing property southwest of the Pullman Palace Car factory. The West Pullman Park District formed in 1913 to create parks for the developing neighborhood. By that time, the community was filled with steel mills and other industries. Wealthy industrialists lived virtually side by side with eastern and southern European immigrant workers who kept their factories running. To best meet the needs of both populations, the park district concentrated its efforts on establishing a single park that could provide both recreational facilities and social welfare programs. The West Pullman Park District began to acquire property in 1914. By 1915, a one-story brick fieldhouse stood on the new park site. Landscape improvements, including playgrounds, tennis courts, and baseball diamonds, soon followed. Increasing recreational opportunities were accompanied by a range of social welfare programs. Area employers such as the International Harvester and Great Lakes Forge companies actively supported park district efforts to provide civic education and health information to the community's "underprivileged." As early as 1918, the fieldhouse was the site of "Americanization" meetings intended to encourage immigrant to embrace the American way of life and become citizens. In 1923, with the cooperation of the Chicago Health Department, the park district opened a welfare station to dispense child care information to area mothers. Throughout the years, West Pullman Park has retained its beautiful natural setting. The site's mature stand of oaks, hickories, and cherries covers an ancient river bank. This wooded slope is one of Chicago's few remaining native landscapes.