West Pullman

West Pullman is home to the nation's largest "urban solar plant," one that generates 10 megawatts of clean power, which "displaces more than 30 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year – the equivalent of taking more than 2,500 cars off the road." Built atop 40 acres of a former industrial plant, the solar plant has more than 32,000 solar panels that slowly tilt every few minutes, "following the sun as it moved across the sky."

Even though the construction of the plant only created temporary jobs in the community, the renewed interest in West Pullman is more than welcome. Once an area with a sizable residential community and large industrial base, West Pullman "residents lost both industrial and professional jobs, making unemployment the community's single biggest problem." In addition, "lead from the paint factories and and contaminants from other factories created health problems for residents and led to the designation of part of the industrial district as an EPA brownfield."