The mural Visions in Pullman was painted by students from the American Academy of Art 15 years ago. It’s situated on the back of the Historic Pullman Visitor Center at the corner of 112th St. and Cottage Grove Ave., on the South side of Chicago.
Pullman was built in the 1880s as a “company town” for the Pullman Palace Car Company. Considered a model community at the time, the comfortable homes featured amenities such as indoor plumbing, gas and sewers. The town was annexed to the city of Chicago in 1889 and is now a sleepy, scenic inner suburb with really beautiful architecture.
The mural depicts ironworkers, the town’s buildings and an iconic Pullman car. Its aesthetic is reminiscent of WPA murals of the Great Depression, such as the ones found inside Coit Tower in San Francisco. For more information about this mural, check out Pullman `Gem’ Sparkles in Mural.
Department of Everyday Visualingual 
Just an FYI, “Ivorydale” for P&G was dsigned by the same architect as Pullman.
Whoa, what and where is Ivorydale? Is it in St. Bernard? Is it as pretty as Pullman?
Ivordale is the complex for P&G in St. Bernard that replaced their original plant on Central Avenue. It would grow to include over 100 buildings. What they did was more just a series of factories I think and did not, unlike Pullman, build like a whole neighborhood/city. It included a fire station, rec facilities, and a train station for instance but no housing. Solon Beman was the architect.
Yeah, I’d come across that name for the P&G complex but never noticed any sort of “company town” connection between its architecture and its surroundings. The houses don’t seem all that consistent or distinguished [certainly not like Pullman, which has really gorgeous blocks]. I’ll have to check out that area again.
The mural isn’t meant to be an exact representation. I get that, but still.
The original Pullman Palace cars had wood sides and truss rod underframes.
Also, the doors were taller and more accomodating. The coach in the mural looks more like the later Pullman heavyweights of the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s.
The art students, and God bless their pointed little heads for doing this memorial, rendered the trucks and wheelsets such that they appear to have used Amtrak coaches as built by Budd or Bombardier as references.
Why do I kvetch about details like these? What is wrong with me? I don’t know, but if you spend your childhood and late adolescence riding Pullman coaches built for M.U. commuter service, your brain becomes an ad hoc archive. I have a sound recording of a Pullman M.U., and some photos, but could not figure how to post them here.
I’m glad you know and care so much about these kinds of details, as I’m merely a member of the ignorati who happens to take a lot of photos. I hadn’t noticed anything funky about the train in the mural.
My above post does sound a tad OCD. You are not the “i” word.