The Walk In, The Walk Out

The Walk In, The Walk Out. . , The routes walked by Pullman workers symbolized social rank, personal power, and rights as Americans., In the 1880s, Pullman workers walked at sunrise into the largest car-building complex in the United States. Inside the gates, they walked along transfer table pits that ran north and south until they reached their workshops., Workers from the nearest Pullman houses paid higher rents. Farther to the southeast, tenements on Fulton Avenue (now Langley Avenue) housed lower-wage workers. Workers could also live west of the shops in Roseland, outside of company control., Walking out at the end of a long workday offered relief, maybe the comfort of family, or at least a boarding-house meal. During layoffs and labor strikes, Pullman workers also walked out in protest through workers gates, past managers' and foremen's houses. The streets were filled with daily moments of solidarity and conflict.,

"...[T]he inside finishers and body builders... organized [a union] over in Roseland... and as soon as the company found out... some of the leaders were dropped, and they have not been able to get work there to this day... Why should they drop some of the best mechanics they have, at times when they want first-class mechanics, that are leaders in a [labor] organization like that?" , Thomas Heathcote, Pullman car builder and President, American Railway Union Local 208, 16 August 1894

, [Captions:] , Left The Workers Gate and Rear Erecting Shops stand empty during the summer of 1894 after Pullman workers walked out on strike., Bottom Left Workers walk south to lunch across 111th Street to Stephenson Avenue (now Champlain Avenue) in 1910. The iron gate in the background on the left is preserved in the Pullman State Historic Site's collection., Bottom Pullman workers walk west to Roseland across six railroad tracks for the noon lunch hour. The new 1908 Steel Erecting Shops can be seen in the background left, at the corner of 111th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue.