Down on its fortunes, and nearly devoid of business, it was again sold in 1991 to OmniTRAX of Denver, and then finally disappeared into today's Chicago Rail Link in 1996.Īs a young boy, I rode my bicycle along 119th Street, and east of Ashland Avenue to watch red and white CWP&S locomotives working in the IH foundry area. Through the 1980's, the by then obscure CWP&S RR survived by moving scrap from the dismantling of Wisconsin Steel and freight car storage. was formed and bought the CWP&S RR from the bankrupt estate of Wisconsin Steel, which had been spun off by owner IH. It started in 1909 as an industrial railroad to serve Wisconsin Steel and International Harvester's Plano Works. Kevin Piper posted several photos with the comment:Ĭhicago West Pullman & Southern Railroad was a small but fascinating operation on Chicago's southeast side.

(The Chicago River An illustrated History and Guide to the River and Its Waterways, 2nd Edition, 2006, David M. Deering owned the Wisconsin Steel Works on the Calumet River, and, by 1924, International Harvester operated at nine different sites throughout Chicago. 'In 1902 Deering merged with the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company to form the giant International Harvester Company. Their South Deering Yard was just north of Wisconsin Steel. Paul Petraitis It looks like they began putting this project together about 1890.chose the name because of the great reputation the Pullman name had at that time.the crash of 1894 hurt everybody AND the Pullman Strike of May 1904 kinda made the Pullman name 'box office poison' for many. the Calumet Electric St Ry ran west from Michigan Avenue along the northern edge of town as far as Morgen (1000 W)ĭavid provided a link for a late-1900's real estate brochure published by the West Pullman Land Association. Here ya go.West Pullman in 1892, industrial park west of Halsted, workers housing east to Normal Ave, fancy shmantzy houses east of Normal aka Stewart Ridge, built amidst the rolling hills of Andrews' Woods.West Pullman got the ICRR to build their Blue Island Branch through town.

West Pullman was quite an industrial area at the time. Here is a CWP&S map circa 1915, courtesy of the Southeast Chicago Historical Society collection. In 1983, Chicago West Pullman LLC was formed and bought the Chicago West Pullman & Southern from the bankrupt estate of Wisconsin Steel, which had been spun off by Harvester and left to flounder.īob Lalich commented on the above posting A reliable and controllable Railroad was needed to economically provide timely deliveries, so the Chicago West Pullman and Southern Railroad was born and built to serve these two 19th century giants. The Chicago, West Pullman and Southern Railroad was founded by McCormick, to transport steel between Wisconsin Steel and Harvester’s plants.Īny remaining steel production was sold to McCormick’s good friend, George Pullman, who ran the huge Pullman Works on Chicago’s South Side. High grade Steel was vital to the production of the “reaper”, Harvester’s primary product.Īs a part of that strategy, McCormick gained control of the predecessor of Wisconsin Steel, located in South Chicago. Cyrus McCormick, having founded International Harvester, wanted to grow his business by also controlling his suppliers. David Daruszka posted the following two pictures with the comment:Ĭhicago, West Pullman & Southern traces its history to the 1880’s and the growth of Chicago industry.

Chicago west