CMAP’s Joe Szabo and National Park Service Pro join Historic Pullman Efforts –
Chicago — (February 12, 2020) — While new housing, businesses and investments have dominated the news coming from Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood, the community is also adding to its cadre of committed and experienced leaders.
Joseph Szabo, the new president of the Historic Pullman Foundation will make his first public appearance on Wednesday, February 19. He will be joined by Valerie Jarrett and city, state and federal park and conservation officials to commemorate Feb. 19, 2015, five years since the historic Pullman District was named a National Monument making it part of the National Park System. The celebration will also share for the first-time, the new designs for transformation of the iconic Clock Tower into the site’s new Visitor Center and its 12-acre grounds as well as its remaining buildings and future programming.
And Teri Gage was just announced as the new Superintendent of the Pullman National Monument Site by the National Park Service (NPS). She is a 32-year veteran of the NPS which includes being the first permanent employee at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site and acting superintendent of the President Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site in Hope, AK. Prior to starting as Superintendent in Pullman in April 2020, Teri was the former chief of business services at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in WI.
Joseph C. Szabo, previously Executive Director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, was recently named the new president of the Historic Pullman Foundation. Since its inception in 1973, the Foundation has been instrumental in the preservation and restoration of original structures within the community and raising awareness of Pullman as one of the nation’s first planned industrial communities. A fifth-generation railroader, Joe was the twelfth Federal Railroad Administrator of the U.S., confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 29, 2009. He embarked upon a railroad career in 1976 with the Illinois Central, where he worked as a yard switchman, road trainman, and commuter conductor. He later served as the United Transportation Union’s Illinois State Legislative Director from 1996 to 2009, participating in state and federal rail safety rulemakings.
Others speaking at the Feb 19 event sharing the new designs and commemorating the historic site’s designation five years ago will be Colleen Callahan, Director, Department of IL Natural Resources, Bryan Traubert, former chair of the National Park Foundation, Sandra Washington, former Associate Regional Director, Midwest Region at NPS, and Alderman Anthony Beale, 9th Ward.
