IL HR0322

Urges Congress to establish Pullman Historic District on Chicago's south side as a National Historical Park or calls on President Obama to designate it as a National Monument via executive order.

Pullman was a late 19th-century company town built by industrialist George M. Pullman and is recognized as a National Historic Landmark since 1970, with significance to urban planning, labor, transportation, and African-American history.

Notes the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the nation's first African-American labor union led by A. Philip Randolph, was established among Pullman Company porters and instrumental in developing the African-American middle class.

States that over $26 million in State and federal funds have been invested in the Pullman State Historic Site and that national parks generate $31 billion annually for local economies while spurring historic renovation and business growth.

Calls for the State of Illinois, community organizations, and the National Park Service to establish partnerships in redeveloping the site to address underutilization and deferred maintenance concerns.