George Pullman was a Chicago industrialist, inventor of the Pullman railroad car, and creator
of an entire town for his workers, including housing, shopping areas, schools, churches, theaters, parks,
a hotel and a library.
But when Pullman cut his workers' wages, but didn't lower their rent, the resulting
strike crippled railroad traffic across the country, and resulted in the federal government sending in
troops to keep the peace and keep the trains running.
Pullman invented a "sleeper car" to be used on railroads -- essentially a passenger car with
seats that could be converted into semi-private beds to make nighttime travel more comfortable. In 1862, Pullman
established the Pullman Palace Car Company to build the sleeper cars. In addition to the basic model, other
Pullman cars featured carpeting, draperies, upholstered chairs, libraries and card tables, and an unparalleled
level of customer service.
The Pullman sleeper car gained national attention when the body of President Abraham Lincoln
was transported after his assassination in 1865 from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Ill., in a Pullman car.
Orders began to increase for the sleeper cars, despite the fact that the sleeper cost more than five times
the price of a regular railway car. Building on his success, Pullman also introduced the first dining car
in 1867 -- basically a sleeper car with an attached kitchen and dining area.
In 1880, with his business booming, Pullman bought 4,000 acres near Lake Calumet, about 15
miles south of Chicago, for $800,000. He hired Solon Spencer Beman to design his new manufacturing plant there
and, in an effort to lessen problems related to labor unrest and poverty,
Pullman believed that the country air and fine facilities without agitators, saloons and
city vice districts would result in a happy, loyal workforce. The model planned community became a leading
attraction during the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and caused a national sensation. Pullman was
praised by the national press for his benevolence and vision. As pleasant as the community may have been,
Pullman expected the town to make money. By 1892 the community, profitable in its own right, was valued
at over $5 million. An estimated 6,000 Pullman employees lived there, with an equal number of dependents.
But there was no question about who ruled the town where the Pullman employees were required to
live, even though cheaper rentals could be found in neighboring communities. Pullman prohibited independent
newspapers, alcohol, public speeches, town meetings or open discussion. His inspectors regularly
entered homes to check for cleanliness and could terminate leases on 10 days notice. The church stood
empty since no approved denomination would pay rent, and no other congregation was allowed.
When his business profits began falling in 1894, during the depression that followed the Panic
of 1893, Pullman cut hundreds of jobs and reduced wages -- but not the rents or prices in his town. When workers
failed to reach an agreement with Pullman, 2,000 of them walked off the job on May 11, 1894, and sought
the support of the American Railway Union. The union responded by declaring that
it would no longer work on any trains that included Pullman cars.
The strike crippled national railroad traffic, causing the federal government to intervene by
forbidding all boycotts, and sending soldiers to Chicago to get the trains running again. The tense atmosphere and
anger of the Pullman workers resulted in considerable violence and vandalism directed at the Pullman Company.
Union President Eugene V. Debs was arrested and imprisoned for failing to follow the federal anti-boycott
injunction.
The strike ended in July 1894, primarily because the ARU was unable to get the support of other
labor unions. A national commission was formed to study the causes of the 1894 strike, and found Pullman's
paternalism partly to blame and Pullman's company town -- which had once been praised as a model industrial
community -- to be "un-American." In 1898, the Supreme Court of Illinois forced the Pullman Company to divest
ownership in the town, which was annexed to Chicago the following year.
Pullman died of a heart attack at the age of 66 in 1897, only three years after the strike.
Fearing that some of his former employees or other labor supporters might try to dig up his body, his
family arranged for his remains to be placed in a lead-lined mahogany coffin, which was then sealed inside a block
of concrete. At the cemetery, a large pit had been dug at the family plot. At its base and walls were 18 inches
of reinforced concrete. The coffin was lowered, and covered with asphalt and tarpaper. More concrete was
poured on top, followed by a layer of steel rails bolted together at right angles, and another layer of concrete.
The entire burial process took two days. His monument, featuring a Corinthian column
flanked by curved stone benches, was designed by Solon Spencer Bemen, the architect of the company town of
Pullman.
After Pullman's death, Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln, became company president.
The company closed its factory in the Pullman neighborhood of Chicago in 1955.
The Pullman neighborhood was named a Chicago Landmark district on Oct. 16, 1972. It was
listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Oct. 8, 1969, and declared a National Historic
Landmark on Dec. 30, 1970.