As visitors descended on the Pullman District to admire the stately, vintage homes that opened their doors last weekend for a historic Pullman House tour, there were a few notable structures where the doors remained closed due to the federal government shutdown, now in its third week.
One favorite site, the Pullman National Historical Park’s Administration Clock Tower Building, remained closed while the seven historic park rangers who normally work at the site and provide tours and other programs were on leave.
Organizers of the 52nd annual Pullman House Historic Tour on Oct. 10 and 11 said ticket sales for the event are down about 30%. They speculated that the decline was a result of the lockdown and park closures, and that potential visitors may have assumed the ride had been cancelled.
“Everyone sees there’s a closed sign across the street,” said Len McClure, vice president of the Pullman Historical Foundation. “We don’t have guards.
McClure said the closures have had a real impact on the people, the neighborhood, residents and visitors.
“National parks have traditionally been the first place where many people experience closure as a personal impact,” she said. “It’s personal.”
The timing of the closure is also unfortunate, she said.
“This is the fall, when schools start setting up programs and tours that have educational components,” McClure said, while helping out on a recent House Tour. “This is the high travel season.”
The Pullman Historical Foundation has been helping to make up the shortfall, filling some of the school tours after the Park Service told them which schools had already signed up, McClure said.
As a Friends of the National Park group with official partnership status, McClure said it’s another way to help support Pullman National Historical Park and its mission.
“So when something like a government shutdown happens, we have to step up and do what we can,” McClure said.
More crowds of visitors are expected in Pullman on Saturday when several Pullman buildings are on display at the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Open House Chicago 2025, including the historic Pullman Foundation headquarters at 614 E. 113th Street and the Great Tabernacle Cathedral at 11300 S. 11314 S. front ave.
But as with the house tour last weekend, the visitor center inside the clock tower, operated by the National Park Service, will be closed in front of Open House Chicago, according to Alfonso Quiroz of the Pullman Historical Foundation.
“However, the rest of Pullman National Historical Park will be open, including the grounds surrounding the Clock Tower (managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources), as well as the Exhibition Hall and Florence Louden Miller Center, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The collections will be on display there throughout the day.”
Although attendance was down last weekend, the Historic Pullman House Tour remains very popular among Pullman fans. It began in the historic Pullman Exhibition Hall and included eight houses, a house under restoration, the Block House Gallery with its houses, gallery, classrooms, community areas and storage spaces, the historic Greenstone Church and the George M. Pullman School.
There was also live jazz music, a classic car show, and food.
People can also stop by the Pullman House Project Welcome Center inside the former home of Henry Sessions, the first general superintendent of the Pullman Palace Motor Company, which was later used as a social club for Pullman executives and the Pullman Club Café.
Even before the shutdown, guards’ hours were reduced in May, said Cindy McMahon, co-chair of the House Tour. McMahon said the exhibit hall has extended its hours to be open to the public from Thursday through Sunday to help offset the reductions.
“We had a lot of people contact us to see if the House Tour was going to happen,” said McMahon, whose house was featured on the tour. “People can still come and visit the partner sites and get the Pullman experience and we hope they will come back when the park is open.”
Along with the Historic Pullman Foundation and other neighborhood organizations like the Pullman House Project, reinforcements are coming in, she said.
“We are here to give everyone who comes to Pullman a good visitor experience,” McMahon said.
Nancy Johnson, who has lived in Pullman for a dozen years and was a volunteer on the tour, said she loved the history, architecture and friendly neighbors.
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there, and people think Pullman is completely closed,” Johnson said. “People appear confused.”
Janice Newman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.