Our adventure today took our giant, white van through three distinct districts, South East Chicago, Pullman, and Back of the Yards, with a slight deviation through Bridgeport. The focus of our excursion was how the various industries and their resultant labor organizations shaped Chicago.
Our first sojourn was to the prior US Steel Corporation South works plant on the south east side of Chicago, to ascertain the importance of the steel industry in Chicago. This location was considered prime real estate for the steel industry because of its proximity to the lake, river, and railway hubs. Technological increases, such as the Bessemer process in 1855, allowed corporations to shift from Irish and German skilled laborers to unskilled Eastern European immigrants; thus, increasing the companies bottom line. Due to these factors, the steel industry boomed in south east Chicago until the late seventies and eighties. At that point, there was a sharp decline in steel workers, until the eventual closure of many plants in the eighties and nineties. Today, much of the area is barren land awaiting development, while there is a possible "mini-city" plan for the area, nothing is yet in the works. This area has fallen into disrepair in part because it was developed solely as a one industry area. Thus, when the industry collapsed, the area had nothing to fall back on for support. This called to mind the idea of disinvestment in a community, which is almost the opposite of gentrification as discussed yesterday. This is a topic we will be covering in more detail later on.
Our next stopover took us into the historic Pullman district, and the site of the famous Pullman strike, where we discussed the history of labor unions in Chicago. One of the most engrossing facets to our Pullman tour was its reflection to the public housing projects we viewed last week. The idea behind both the Pullman development and the CHA's housing projects was that if the physical environment of a worker or an impoverished person was made well, the worker would behave and poverty would diminish; however, in both cases this theory did not prove true. An eyewitness of the Pullman block homes commented on how their was an abundance of bare empty space, yet another similarity to the projects. The problem with both of these housing ventures was that they only attempted to fix "one piece of the puzzle" rather than all the pieces making up the puzzle. It also brought up the idea of history repeating itself and how we must look at our past in order to develop our future. It is possible that some of the mistakes in the public housing projects could have been avoided if the developers had looked back at the "Pullman housing project."
The final stop on our last van tour was the Back of the Yards area in Chicago, where addressed Chicago's meet packing industry. To prepare for this portion of our tour we read The World The Meat-Packers Made. I found the most enthralling section of the reading to deal with how the meat-packers organized themselves into smaller sub-sects. One of the ways the Back of the Yards organized according to class related to housing area status. The neighborhood was divided into four zones based on their proximity to the stockyards, the more upscale neighborhoods being located furthest from the slaughter houses. Quadrant one being the least prestigious, was filled with newer immigrants, and Quadrant four being the most. In addition, the streets within each quadrant were ranked according to social status. As a result, some streets in Quadrant 3 were ranked higher than others in Quadrant four. This demonstrates humans need for a sort of social organization and the unique way humans attempt to organize.
Today's van tour was an exciting look into Chicago's history and politics and I look forward to going to the Center for Green Technology tomorrow!
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