American Industry Tour

For a full list of itineraries, please visit our Halal Food and Travel website. The American Industry Tour showcases the industrial tourism|industrial legacy of the north-eastern United States. As many other historical trails in North America and the tour follows migration routes from east to west, with a chronology from colonial times to the present day. Starting in Boston in the 17th and 18th centuries, we visit the 19th century factory clusters around Albany and New York City and carry on through industrial regions of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, which had their heyday during the 20th century. The journey ends in Chicago.

The rather small area along this trail contains much of America's industrial legacy, with a majority of the nation's industry-related National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites and National Historical Parks. Many of the rest are in Minnesota.

Introduction

Saugus Ironworks Forge and Mill, Saugus MA - Saugus Iron Works. From 1776 to 1945 and the United States transformed from an agrarian country of 2½ million inhabitants to the world's leading superpower and the home of 140 million people. Most feats of innovation and engineering happened in the north-east, however the Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom, which held eastern North America as a colony (see Early United States history). In the Market Revolution during the early 19th century and the textile business was an early adopter of industrial processes.

From the mid-19th century, steam-powered factories became more common and railroads started replacing canals and roads as main transport routes. During the American Civil War and the industries of the Northeast were mobilized to produce arms, supplies and ships, contributing to the Union victory. The colonization of the Old West truly began during the War, as the Southern secession from Congress allowed investment in rail lines and other colonization policies. See Industrialization of the United States for a guide to the political, social and cultural history of the whole country from the 1860s to the 1940s.

The late 19th century was called the Gilded Age, with a rising capitalist class and increased corruption, mainly in large industrial city's. The turn of the century saw the rise of organized labor, not least in Chicago. The early 20th century was known as the Progressive Era, with labor reforms, antitrust laws and women's suffrage.

World War I again increased demand for military supplies. The automobile had its breakthrough during the Roaring Twenties and Detroit became known as the Motor City. The 1929 Wall Street Crash caused the Great Depression, which hit the north-east hard, though the New Deal during the 1930s provided some relief. As World War II in Europe began in 1939 and the USA supplied the Allies with arms. The 1941 Pearl Harbor attack brought America into the Pacific War and brought large-scale industrial mobilization. After the war ended in 1945, industry shifted to consumer products. Since the 1960s, Northeastern industries have been downsizing, moving south, west and abroad, causing unemployment and urban decay, causing the region to be renamed the Rust Belt. Though the 2000s financial crisis hit industrial towns hard, some of them are revitalizing today. See also Post-war United States.

Transportation in American Industry Tour

Note: You can't work in a steel mill and think small. Giant converters hundreds of feet high. Every night and the sky looked enormous. It was a torrent of flames – of fire. The place that Pittsburgh used to be had such scale.

The journey is around 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometres) in total. By vehicle and the trip takes around a week, however as railroads were an integral part of industrialization and most of the sights are in major city's, many legs of the tour rail travel in the United States|can be done by rail.

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Day 1: Boston area

Our chronology starts in the 17th century in Boston, Massachusetts, where some industries could be found already during the Colonial era.

Before the Age of Steam, industry took use of rivers for propulsion and transport. The humid climate of New England allowed many waterwheel-powered workshops. The textile mills used locally produced flax and wool, as well as cotton from the South. New England also has abundant wood and enough iron ore was available for the first metalworking industries

Plimoth Grist Mill Museum - 6 Spring Ln 41.95384,-70.66555 Plymouth (Massachusetts), off Summer St., a short walk away from the waterfront ☎ +1 508 747-4544 Formerly known as the Jenny Grist Mill but now affiliated with Plimoth Plantation. An authentic working mill rebuilt on the site of the original 1636 mill. Tours and exhibits.

Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site, Massachusetts 42.467778,-71.008889 ☎ +1 781-233-0050 Opening Hours: Daily. April - Oct 9AM Monday - 5PM. November - Mar 9AM Monday - 4PM The site of the first integrated ironworks in North America (1646-1668). It includes the reconstructed blast furnace, forge, rolling mill and a restored seventeenth century house. As one of the first known industrial facilities on the continent, thit is a good place to start our voyage.

Quincy (Massachusetts) - GPS: 42.2500,-71.0000The Granite Railway, one of the first railroads in the United States, was incorporated in 1826.

Lowell (Massachusetts) | Lowell National Historical Park, Massachusetts 67 Kirk Street 42.639444,-71.314722 ☎ +1 978 970-5000 Lowell had watermill-powered workshops already in the 18th century and was an early planned industrial city. Contains the Lowell Power Canal System and Pawtucket Gatehouse. Open year round. 9AM Monday - 5PM (Summer to 5:30PM). Commemorates the history of the American Industrial Revolution in Lowell. Includes the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, textile mills, canals, worker houses and 19th-century commercial buildings. See also the American Textile History Museum and the Seashore Trolley Museum.

Boston Navy Yard, Boston/Charlestown, Massachusetts - GPS: 42.375278,-71.064444 Wednesday jump forward in time for a while, to see a more modern part of Boston's industrial legacy. From its foundation in 1801 until its decline past World War II and the final decommission in 1974, it built and maintained much of the US Navy.

Waltham, Massachusetts - GPS: 42.37639,-71.23556 A suburb of Boston, with the remnants of the Boston Manufacturing Company. A center for the American textile industry already in the early 18th century and the birthplace of the Waltham System; an early version of the assembly line. In the 19th century, Waltham Watch Company made the city known as the Watch City. The vehicle company Metz made the first American Motorcycles here.

Charles River Museum Of Industry 154 Moody Street - ☎ +1 781 893-5410 Opening Hours: Thursday - Saturday 10AM Monday - 5PM Exhibits on textile mills, American Waltham Watch Company and a power plant.

Waltham Museum 25 Lexington Street - ☎ +1 781-893-8017 or +1 781-893-9020 Opening Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 1PM Monday - 4:30PM An extensive collection of memorabilia including watches, clocks, automobiles and other industrial products made in Waltham. Fee.

Connecting itineraries:

From Plymouth to Hampton Roads is a historical itinerary through Philadelphia and Washington D.C., which showcases colonial and antebellum history.
Touring Shaker country: The Shakers are a Christian sect, which played an important role in the early industrialization of America.

Day 2: Upper Massachusetts

Worcester Historical Museum 30 Elm Street 42.264713,-71.804515 Worcester (Massachusetts) ☎ +1 508 753-8278 Opening Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10AM Monday - 4PM, Thursday 10AM Monday - 8:30PM Small museum in a beautiful old building that presents the city's history. Worcester Historical Museum features a rotating art exhibit and a section dedicated to the various manufacturing industries that built the city. Also has a room dedicated to the "smiley face," which was invented in Worcester.

Old Sturbridge Village 1 Old Sturbridge Village Road 42.108333,-72.079167 Sturbridge ☎ +1 508 347-3362 +1-800-SEE-1830 Sturbridge's biggest draw, this living history museum promotes learning about the early 1800s through fun, hands-on activities. Great interpretive programs. Special and seasonal programs help people experience historical New England. There are reenactments of previous time period wars, as well as activities that were going on around the early 1800s. It is a great way to get the visitors involved as well as just allowing for a great show.

Springfield (Massachusetts) | Springfield Armory, Massachusetts - GPS: 42.108056,-72.581667 A firearms factory operating from 1777 until 1968.

Museum of Our Industrial Heritage 2 Mead Street 42.583652,-72.604155 Greenfield (Massachusetts)

Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum - GPS: 42.3506,-73.2442 East of Lenox (Massachusetts) - A legacy railway.

Ventfort Hall Gilded Age Mansion 42.3528426,-73.2800076 Lenox (Massachusetts) A historic Jacobean-style mansion and museum, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors can tour the mansion and learn about the changes that occurred in American life, industry and society during the late 19th-century period known as the Gilded Age.

Day 3: Upstate New York

The Mid-Atlantic had thriving industrial city's even before the Civil War. Their productivity helped bring the Union to victory. Many immigrants from Ireland, Italy and Eastern Europe settled here. Since the 1960s manufacturing crisis, many industrial buildings have been redeveloped for other purposes, such as hospitality, entertainment and residential areas.

Connecting itinerary: The Erie Canal was New York State's main transport route before the railroads, connecting upstate industrial city's such as Syracuse (New York) and Buffalo to the Atlantic.

Watervliet Arsenal Museum exhibit 002 - Watervliet (New York) | Watervliet Arsenal Museum.

Harmony Mills, Cohoes - GPS: 42.781111,-73.704167The largest cotton mill complex in the world when it opened in 1872.

Watervliet (New York) | Watervliet Arsenal - GPS: 42.718333,-73.708611 Opened in 1813, thit is the oldest continuously active arsenal in the United States.

Troy (New York) | Troy - GPS: 42.731667,-73.692500Troy flourished throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries and though deindustrialized like most of the rest of the North, has what's probably the best-preserved collection of grand 19th-century big-city buildings in the nation.

Burden Iron Works Museum 1 East Industrial Pkwy 42.710014,-73.698961 Troy ☎ +1 518 274-5267 Schedule a tour for a crash course in area history.

Watervliet Arsenal Museum 1 Buffington St, Watervliet 42.7184,-73.7040 ☎ +1 518 266-5111 For military history buffs.

Albany 42.65250,-73.75611 A center for the wood, paper and print industry, with many of the nation's first high-rise buildings. Owes its importance at least in part to the Erie Canal.

Schenectady Museum - 15 Nott Terrace Hts, 12308 42.8118301,-73.9336955 ☎ +1 518-382-7890 Opening Hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 10AM - 5PM $3 - $5The Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium celebrate science, invention and imagination. The museum explores the area’s rich technological legacy, with some of the region’s finest interactive exhibits. The museum also has an extensive General Electric collection.

Kingston (New York) - GPS: 41.925000,-74.000000 An industrial town with the Catskill Mountain Railroad.

Poughkeepsie 41.705278,-73.93055 An 18th-century town with some early industrial legacy.

Locust Grove - 2683 South Road 41.673278,-73.931615 Poughkeepsie ☎ +1 845 454-4500 Last updated: 2022The former estate of Samuel F. B. Morse, whose patent of the electromagnetic telegraph revolutionized human communication. Set on 150 acres and the Italianate villa was designed by architect Alexander Jackson Davis.

Day 4: Metropolitan New York

Meatpacking District 4546163360 81d5f0f56 b crop - Meatpacking District, Manhattan

Since the 1830s, New York City has been the largest metropolitan region of the United States. As NYC is today a center for finance, entertainment and administration, one might miss that manufacturing was the city's most important business sector until the early 20th century. With astronomical land prices, most factories have been torn down to make room for housing and office buildings, but quite a few others have been converted to loft apartment buildings and thus maintained in a number of now-luxury neighborhoods, including Manhattan/Soho|SoHo

Meatpacking District Manhattan/Chelsea, New York City - GPS: 40.740278,-74.006944 From the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, this neighborhood supplied New York City with Meat. Today, most buildings and infrastructure remains, reconditioned for other purposes.

Chelsea Market - 75 9th Ave 40.74257,-74.00603 between 15th and 16th Streets; Subway: {{NYCS|L to 14th St/8th Av The original Oreo cookie factory is now a block-sized market selling gourmet foods, flowers and knick-knacks and offering restaurants, bars, art space and special shows. Has free wireless Internet access throughout and smells like a slice of heaven.

High Line Park Runs mostly along 10th Avenue from 34th Street south to Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District, with access points at Gansevoort, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 23rd, 26th, 28th, 30th and 34th Streets 40.7483,-74.005 Subway: {{NYCS|E to 14th Street or 23rd St; {{NYCS|7 to 34th Street–Hudson Yards ☎ +1 212-500-6035 Opening Hours: Daily 7AM Monday - 11PM. Except Dec 1- Mar 31:Closes at 8PM Free High Line - High Line 20th Street looking downtown - Built on a defunct elevated railway that runs 30 feet above the streets and the repurposing of the rail line as a park has made it the focus of major development in the neighborhood. There are plenty of plantings and art installations along the park as it winds its way between (and through!) buildings and walking the stretch offers some pretty unique views over the streets of Manhattan.

Manhattan/Greenwich Village|Greenwich Village New York City - GPS: 40.730051,-73.995361The former Asch Building, known today as the Brown Building, was the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, one of the deadliest industrial disasters in the history of the United States, whose aftermath would eventually lead to a massive overhaul of fire safety legislation throughout the nation. Today the building houses the biology and chemistry departments of New York University (NYU) and cannot be entered by the general public, though a plaque commemorating the disaster has been installed on the outside of the building and is the site of a memorial service held every year in memory of the fire victims.

DUMBO Brooklyn/Downtown, New York City - GPS: 40.703056,-73.989444 Industrial buildings redeveloped for more urban purposes.

Clark Thread Company Historic District Newark (New Jersey) | Newark, New Jersey - GPS: 40.751944,-74.1625Thread factory opened in 1875.

Silk City Paterson, New Jersey - GPS: 40.91667,-74.17194 "The Silk City" was the nation's first planned industrial city.

Speedwell Ironworks Speedwell Village, Morristown, New Jersey - GPS: 40.81416,-74.480488The first demonstration of the Morse telegraph took place here.

Phillipsburg (New Jersey) | Phillipsburg New Jersey - GPS: 40.69361,-75.19028 A former transportation hub, with five train lines and 3 canals coming together.

Day 5: Eastern Pennsylvania

Philadelphia Navy Yard Philadelphia - GPS: 39.891111,-75.178611 An industrial zone under redevelopment.

Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) | Bethlehem 40.626111,-75.375556 The city was industrialized already before the Civil War; it is best known for the Bethlehem Steel Company, once the nation's second-largest steel manufacturer, which was dismantled during the 2000s. The main industrial area has been transformed to a casino resort.

National Museum of Industrial History 602 E. Second Street 40.6125572,-75.3715148 Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) | Bethlehem ☎ +1 610-694-6644 Opening Hours: 10AM Monday - 5PM Wed-Sat $12 A Smithsonian affiliate dedicated to preserving America's rich industrial legacy. Exhibits on steel-making and manufacturing.

America On Wheels Museum - 5 N. Front Street 40.601667,-75.477222 Allentown, Pennsylvania ☎ +1 610 432-4200 Museum showing the history of wheeled transportation.

Coplay Cement Company Kilns

Lehigh County - GPS: 40.676111,-75.495

Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site - GPS: 40.198611,-75.775556 A blast furnace founded in 1771, which was used up to the Civil War.

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania - GPS: 39.982223,-76.160607 | Web:

Day 6: Central Pennsylvania

Steamtown National Historic Site Cliff Street west of Lackawanna Avenue 41.407792,-75.671829 Scranton +1-888-693-9391 The Park is open daily 9AM Monday - 5PM and is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years days. The Steamtown National Historic Site offers tours of a train yard, locomotives, etc. GPS will take you to 150 South Washington Avenue, but there is no public access at that address.

Electric City Trolley Museum 300 Cliff Street 41.409627,-75.673401 Scranton ☎ +1 570 963-6590 Cliff Street. On the site of the Steamtown National Historic Site. Offers trolley rides 9AM Monday - 5PM W-Su through October and on selected weekends afterwards. Check site for specifics. The Electric City Trolley Museum Association is a volunteer non-profit group that supports the activities of the Electric City Trolley Museum in downtown Scranton. The Electric City Trolley museum is closely affiliated with the Steamtown National Historic Site.

Scranton Iron Furnaces 159 Cedar Ave 41.404014,-75.662482 Scranton ☎ +1 570 963-3208 Open year-round, 9AM Monday - 5PM. Visitors' center open seasonally. Blast furnaces built between 1848 and 1857. The Scranton Iron Furnaces is located near the Steamtown National Historic Site. The Iron Furnaces represent the early iron industry in the United States. There are four massive stone blast furnaces that still remain at the historic site and are the sole remnants of a once extensive plant operated by the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Company.

Golden Age Air Museum - GPS: 40.4846149,-76.2650383 Northwest of Reading (Pennsylvania) - A broad collection of aircraft. Biplane rides are offered.

Cornwall Iron Furnace - GPS: 40.2705251,-76.4120632 | Web:

Hershey's Chocolates World - GPS: 40.288163,-76.661168 251 Park Blvd, Hershey - Great for children. A free tour experience shows the workings of how cocoa beans become Hershey's Chocolates. The tour ends with a free sample. Other attractions available at Hershey's Chocolates world include a "factory works" experience, a Trolley tour of the town, a food court, a 3D show and retail outlets with souvenirs and plenty of Hershey's products. price varies.

Harrisburg - GPS: 40.25984,-76.88221 A cluster for iron and steel production during the late 19th century, with several museums and tours. Infamous in later times for the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear incident.

The State Museum of Pennsylvania 300 North Street 40.265834,-76.885463 Harrisburg ☎ +1 717-787-4980 - A museum with a variety of exhibitions about Pennsylvania's history.

Harley Davidson Factory Tour - GPS: 39.9837288,-76.7210148 York (Pennsylvania) | legendary American motorcycles are assembled here.

Wolfgang Candy Company Factory Tour 50 E. 4th Ave 39.9736348,-76.7329562 York (Pennsylvania) - Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 10AM & 2PM, FREE. Museum also open Monday to Friday 9AM Monday - 4PM, Saturday 10AM Monday - 3PM Take the Wolfgang Factory Tour! Free samples of Chocolates on the tour and discounted Chocolates for sale at the end.

Day 7: Western Pennsylvania

Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum (in Maryland) - GPS: 39.642778,-77.720 A railroad museum.

Allegheny Portage Railroad 40.454167,-78.540278 near Altoona (Pennsylvania) | Altoona An railroad, operating 1834 to 1854, which became an early gateway between the Atlantic and the Midwest. Contains the Staple Bend Tunnel; the first American railroad tunnel.

Carrie Furnace, Rankin 8 miles (13 kilometers) south of Pittsburgh - GPS: 40.413081,-79.890078 Operated from 1884 until 1982.

Pittsburgh - GPS: 40.438310,-79.997460The "Steel City" was once at the core of American industry and the seat for United States Steel, at its time the world's largest corporation. Though many steel mills have closed down during the 20th century, Pittsburgh has revitalized its industrial legacy.

Senator John Heinz History Center 1212 Smallman Street 40.4466,-79.9922 Pittsburgh ☎ +1 412 454-6000 Opening Hours: 10AM Monday - 5PM daily $15 adults, $13 seniors, $6 children/students/military, children 5 and under free An affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and the largest history museum in Pennsylvania. Featuring 6 floors of permanent and changing exhibitions, this museum gives a very detailed look at the past 250 years in Western Pennsylvania, with displays on Pittsburgh-area innovations, people and industries. Notable exhibits include artifacts from the French & Indian War, a hall dedicated to the Heinz company, a room full of old vehicles and the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum - a two story exhibit dedicated to a wide variety of Pittsburgh-area sport legends.

Titusville (Pennsylvania) | Titusville - GPS: 41.629167,-79.674444The birthplace of American oil industry, with the Drake Well Museum.

Day 8: Ohio

The rich natural resources, such as grain, iron, coal, wood and hydroelectric power, together with the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal and the Mississippi river system, allowed the Midwestern city's to boom during the Industrial Revolution. Since World War II, manufacturing has declined and the region is today known as the "Rust Belt", with high unemployment and urban decay

Youngstown (Ohio) - GPS: 41.096389,-80.649167The Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor can be found here.

American Toy Marble Museum, Akron - GPS: 41.080274,-81.520203This museum preserves and disseminates the history of the American toy industry in the city where it all started: Akron, Ohio.

Cleveland, Ohio 41.50446,-81.69056 The birthplace of Standard Oil and the Rockefeller dynasty and the early motor industry. The country's fifth largest city during the 1920s. As most other city's in the once industrial heartland it has fallen to a "rust belt" image, but a revitalization is underway and the somewhat negative reputation of the city is almost entirely undeserved.

Mad River Railroad Museum Bellevue (Ohio) - GPS: 41.270321,-82.840683 A railroad museum.

Day 9: Michigan

Detroit FordMuseum 01 - Henry Ford museum, Dearborn.

Connecting itinerary: The Motorcity's Tour is a showcase of the automotive industry in and around Detroit

Detroit 42.33317,-83.04788 Opening Hours: The "motor city" and the name "Detroit" was long a metonym for the US automobile industry. As the industry downsized since the late 20th century and population moved to the suburbs, much of the city lies deserted. The already-struggling city was hit hard by the housing crash of 2007/2008; though there are signs of recovery and "new urbanism", a long way remains to go.

Automotive Hall of Fame 21400 Oakwood Blvd. 42.3025,-83.237694 Dearborn ☎ +1 313 240-4000 Automotive Hall of Fame - Automotive Hall of Fame Dearborn
The Henry Ford 20900 Oakwood Blvd. 42.303583,-83.234078 Dearborn ☎ +1 313 982-6001 +1-800-835-5237 Opening Hours: Daily 9:30AM Monday - 5PM Adults $25 Greenfield Village, $20 Henry Ford Museum, $16 Factory Tour; Seniors $22.50 Greenfield Village, $18 Henry Ford Museum, $14.50 Factory Tour; Children 5-12 $18.75 Greenfield Village, $15 Henry Ford Museum, $12 Factory Tour; under 5 free to all attractions. All IMAX tickets $10 regardless of age. 10% discount for online ticket purchases to a single attraction, except for IMAX. Combo tickets to any two non-IMAX attractions are the price of the more expensive ticket plus half of the less expensive one, with no online purchase discount. Unlimited ride pass $10. Parking fee $. The Henry Ford - Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum 2013-09-13 18-12-44 Thit is a "must see". A massive historical and entertainment complex, a leading attraction with a keen focus on innovations. Consists of four separate attractions—the Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, a tour of the Ford Rouge Factory and an IMAX theater. Highlights include: Lincoln's chair, Rosa Parks' bus, JFK's limos, Thomas Edison's last breath hermetically sealed in a test tube, original historic structures, nice shops, great food, and, not surprisingly, a stunning history of the automobile collection that is a football field long. Visitors may have many entertaining experiences such as mini-shows, music, parades, train rides and Model T rides. Visitors should plan at least one full day for the village and another full day for the Museum.

Detroit/Hamtramck-Highland_Park|Highland Park Ford Plant - GPS: 42.403611,-83.101667The second production site for the Ford Model T.

Walter P. Chrysler Museum 1 Chrysler Dr 42.6505992,-83.2240587 Auburn Hills ☎ +1 248-944-0439 +1 248-944-0460 Sixty-five historic vehicles on three floors; history of Chrysler, AMC and their predecessors. On Chrysler corporate campus, available for groups and meeting rentals but not otherwise open to the public. On rare occasions, a group may rent the facility for an event (such as the annual CEMA vehicle show in June) to which the public is invited; this might be the only window for public museum visits.

Alfred P. Sloan Museum, Flint 1221 E. Kearsley Street 43.0233718,-83.6786115 ☎ +1 810 237-3450 Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 10 AM - 5 PM, Saturday - Sunday Noon - 5 PM $6 Adults, $5 Seniors, $4 Children (3-11), Adult School Programs, $3 Student School Programs, Free for Children (2 and under), Teachers Sloan Museum and the Buick Gallery & Research Center are devoted to the documentation and interpretation of local history. The Buick Gallery and Research Center one block away at 303 Walnut Street features several dozen classic G.M. cars, including several concept designs.

R.E. Olds Transportation Museum, Lansing (Michigan) - GPS: 42.73135,-84.54807 - A museum dedicated to the founder of Oldsmobile, which was later bought by GM and was for years a popular US auto brand. Many traces of R.E. Olds still remain in Lansing. The tallest building in the city and the Boji Tower (noted for its large red clock), was originally built as the Olds Tower, after its major financier, R.E. Olds. The area near the location of an old Olds factory is now called REO Town, after R.E. Olds. The Lansing Lugnuts, a minor league baseball team plays in a stadium formerly known as Oldsmobile park near downtown Lansing.

Little River Railroad, Coldwater - GPS: 41.9352353,-85.003205 - A Heritage railways|legacy railway.

Day 10: Chicago

Pullman Chicago Clock Tower - Pullman.

While much of Chicago was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871, it rose to become America's second city during the Industrial Revolution and the capital of the meatpacking industry, a haven for organized crime during the Prohibition and a hotspot for blues and jazz. An important city in the history of organized labor, with the Pullman District and the Haymarket Plaza Massacre and the date of which is remembered in most of the world (though not the US or Canada) as a worker's holiday on May 1st

Historic Pullman District

Chicago/Far Southeast Side - GPS: 41.683,-87.570

Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago/Hyde_Park 5700 South Lake Shore Dr & E 57th Street 41.790573,-87.583066 Take CTA buses 2, 6, 10, 28, 55, or the Metra Electric Line ☎ +1 773 684-1414 Opening Hours: 9:30AM Monday - 4PM daily; some days until 5:30PM, including most of summer; closed 25 Dec $11, $5 child Spend hours upon hours looking at really cool stuff you never even knew you didn't know about. So much to do, so little time. You can return for free the following day if you take your ticket to "Will Call" on the way out on your first day. Great for kids, with many hands-on exhibits and the famous Coal Mine; adults will enjoy the display of the (German) U-boat 'U-505'. The immense, beautiful building was itself built as part of the White City in 1893 and is the last of the grand buildings left in Hyde Park.

Chicago History Museum - Chicago Historical Society - 1601 North Clark Street 41.9120377,-87.6336804 Clark/Division Red Line, Sedgwick Brown Line ☎ +1-312-642-4600 Opening Hours: from Monday to Saturday 9:30AM Monday - 4:30PM, Sunday noon-5PM $14 Adults, Children 12 and under are free A creative urban history museum. Exhibits include The Pioneer and the first railroad locomotive to operate in Chicago and the bed upon which Abraham Lincoln died; more fun for kids is the Chicago#The Chicago hot dog|Chicago-style Hot Dog showcase, which supplies all the giant plastic ingredients you'll need to turn yourself (or your little brother) into a life-sized Hot Dogs (no ketchup, of course). They also host regular tours of different CTA lines and walking tours of Lincoln Park and Old Town.

Where to go next

In Chicago, our chronology reaches the 1950s, as the city was at its peak. Since the 1960s and the industries of the Northeast started downsizing, due to automation and outsourcing. Crime-driven emigration to the suburbs made the town centers decline.

America's center of gravity for population and industry moved on to the southwest, with mainly California as the new land of opportunity, together with the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest (United States of America) | Southwest and Texas. Minneapolis/St. Paul, Street Louis, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Denver are some other important industrial city's in middle America. Historically and the iron ore for all that steel came primarily from Northeastern Minnesota and a considerable amount of ore is still shipped out of Duluth and adjacent Superior. The whole region has numerous active mines and exhibits of its industrial past. Before the advent of the Interstate Highway System there were just a few highways and railroads across the Rocky Mountains and only the elite could afford air travel. Some of the classical routes are still available today:

Empire Builder has run from Chicago to Seattle since 1929.
California Zephyr, a streamliner train service opened in 1949 across scenic terrain, to the Bay Area (California) | San Francisco Bay Area.
Lincoln Highway (1913-1930) and the first transcontinental highway, reaches San Francisco. These named auto trails predated the 1926 US Highway System.
Route 66 (1926-1985) was the legendary highway that connected Chicago to Los Angeles. It was replaced, piece-by-piece, by the Interstate system (established in 1956) with the last segment bypassed near Williams (Arizona) in 1984.