• How can you make the changes in the world that you want to see?

George Pullman

Born in New York, 1831

Early Life

• Worked as a store clerk and cabinet maker• Moved to Chicago in 1859– Worked as building raiser

• Move to Colorado to make money– Run general store and ore refinery

• Planning how to build a luxury rail car

The Pioneer

• Moves back to Chicago in 1863 to build the rail car

• Too wide for most rails• Used on Lincoln’s funeral train– Gains national fame

Pullman Palace Car Company

• Founded at age 36 – 1867

• Popularity of the luxury train cars grows

Amenities

• Featured breakthroughs such as•Dining Cars•Leather seats•Table lamps•Silk shades

•Heating and cooling •Chandeliers•Comfortable beds•Smoother riding

Having gourmet food and dining cars allows Pullman cars to go faster than other train cars, because it did not have to stop for food

George Pullman’s problem

• Workers live in utter squalor• Wants to create a town where workers can

live quality lives with out problems of big city

The Town of Pullman

• G Pullman purchases 4,300 acres south of Chicago 1880– Constructs model community (Modern Utopia)• Indoor plumbing and gas stoves• Brick homes for rent• Pullman owned Church and businesses• Free education until eight grade• Parks• Theaters

• Developed by Nathan Barrett • a place where "all that would promote the

health, comfort, and convenience of a large working population would be conserved, and . . . many of the evils to which they [laborers] are ordinarily exposed [are] made impossible."

Factory Next to Housing

Housing in Pullman

The Pullman Arcade

BankTheaterPost Office

AdministrationPrivate BusinessLibrary

Hotel Florence

Not a terrible placePopulation 12,000 in 1893

• “The town of Pullman was a model of financial efficiency. Pullman demanded that the company return an 8-percent profit and the town return a 6-percent profit. He designed the town so that he could profit from waste and excess materials. Scrap wood from the factory fueled the Corliss engine, which in turn powered Pullman's various machines. The engine's exhaust filled Lake Vista and workers used the ice from the lake on Pullman cars. Similarly, the Corliss engine pumped sewage from the town to a nearby Pullman-owned farm, where it was used as fertilizer for produce that would be sold back in the town.”

Pullman’s Grip

• Alcohol banned everywhere except hotel• Rent is very high-> houses are very nice• Pullman owned all business/homes in town• No elected government • Spies report unwanted behavior

• All of the conveniences needed to survive– No basic human rights

What always causes problems?

Economic Depression of 1893

• Pullman cuts wages by 1/3• Leaves rent and goods prices alone• Pullman refuses to help• Workers turn to American Railway Union ARU

May 11, 1894

• 90% of Pullman’s crew went on strike

ARU Support

• June 26, ARU Calls for national strike against Pullman cars and blockade of RR

• 150,000 rail workers quit their jobs– June 30th– RR west of Chicago completely shut down

• 12,000 US troops sent to Chicago to end strike

Riots Ensue

• July 5-7th riots ensue • Hundred of non-Pullman cars burnt • Six rioters killed• Soldiers wounded• July 10th Soldiers break RR blockade

G Pullman died not well liked 1897

• “To prevent his body from being stolen or desecrated by angry employees, Pullman had made special provisions for his burial in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery. His casket consists of a lead-lined box covered in one inch of asphalt, and rests in an eight-foot-deep concrete-filled pit. Eight steel rails rest above the casket and a final layer of concrete was poured on top.”

1898

• Robert Todd Lincoln made CEO of company• Illinois Supreme court forces company to sell

the town