Artist Ricardo Gonzalez used to pass the blank concrete wall near the Rock Island Metra Station and think about painting it. That unexpected opportunity came years later when the Blue Island Historical Society asked if he would transform the wall into a mural depicting the Pullman Strike of 1894.
“I would always walk by there because I would take the Metra to school or to work, and I would always think … ‘This would be a great wall to paint a mural on one day,'” Gonzalez said. “And by luck, it eventually happened.”
The mural, unveiled Oct. 16, is at Vermont Street and Irving Avenue, where Blue Island residents took part in the historical strike.
The nationwide railroad strike and boycott began in May 1894, after Pullman Palace Car Company owner George Pullman cut wages for workers and ignored their concerns, according to the Blue Island Historical Society.
Executive Director Kevin Brown said the concrete wall was an eyesore for decades. When the wall became available, he saw it as an opportunity to publicly display a pivotal moment in the city’s history. The historical society is now working to get it designated as an official state landmark.
Brown said Blue Island played a significant role in early labor movements to establish unions and get fair working conditions. Federal troops were also deployed in Blue Island in an attempt to calm down the strike that was slowly becoming violent.
Gonzalez, who attended the American Academy of Art College in Chicago, has painted murals for a decade, including many in Blue Island. He said he was likely picked for the job because of his expertise and familiarity with the city.
This mural took him about two summers with some breaks in between. He worked mostly alone but had help priming from friends and his father.
Gonzalez said the first few months of the artistic process comprised of heavy research and submitting sketches. The Blue Island Historical Society provided him with research, articles, baiduhai political cartoons and historical photographs by Ferdinand Schapper, a Blue Island resident who took many photographs during the strike.
Gonzalez said he trained as an illustrator and learned how to convey stories by drawing scenes without using any words, transferable skills he said helped him throughout the artistic process.
“In that sense, I was working a little closer to being an illustrator,” he said. “I definitely read through the research, and I was like, ‘OK, I understand. I can see what was happening at certain points leading up to the protest and then even just some of the tension with the marshals and train workers.'”
While he had artistic freedom to decide how to compose everything, he said he carefully studied the provided photographs and cartoons, such as how people posed and their facial expressions.
The scenes depict an array of emotions from angry men holding their fists to the sky to troops standing expressionless in front of the railroad.
Gonzalez said he chose colors with intention, especially because the original images were black-and-white. He said he wanted to make sure everything was aesthetically pleasing so it invites community members to contemplate.
He said another intentions was to make the imagery accessible for those who may be unfamiliar with the history.
“I would hope there is enough on there that even if you don’t know anything about the Pullman strikes, you could gather that there is a form of protest happening there,” Gonzalez said.
Aside from the opportunity to preserve the wall’s history, Gonzalez said it was special hearing people express their appreciation for his work. While no one he met was directly connected to the strikes, he said he talked to people who work at the train station or have distant family members who worked there.
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“I painted this thing because I care about Blue Island and I care about the people here. I want them to enjoy it and love it,” Gonzalez said.
Brown said the wall is more than just a mural, but an opportunity for Blue Island to keep growing.
“I think it’s a part of hopefully the start of something bigger going on down there because development wise there’s a lot of opportunity,” Brown said. “There’s obviously two Metra stations and plenty of land that could be developed so I think it’s just the beginning of something big down there.”