The 125th Anniversary of One of America's Biggest Strikes
Pullman was supposed to be “The World’s Most Perfect Town.” The 4,000-acre community designed by the architect Solon Beman and landscape architect Nathan Barrett on behalf of George Pullman was fourteen miles south of the crowded, dirty neighborhoods of Chicago. It had its own school, church, parks, library, theater, and hotel, while each of its 531 varied brick homes had its own yard – a huge step up from the urban slums where most workers lived. The laborers who lived in those homes could walk to work at the Pullman Palace Car Company plant in the town, where they constructed luxury sleeper cars for railroads.
George Pullman, who had become extremely wealthy from his business, wanted his town to be free of the kinds of workers who would participate in costly strikes – hence the attractive amenities. But the requirement for entrance into his idyllic company town was a 32-page lease that had restrictions meant to ensure social and moral health. You had to ask permission if you wanted plants. You couldn’t sit on your front porch and had to follow a dress code when you left the house. The only people who could purchase alcohol in town were hotel guests.
Pullman owned the whole town, which generated a profit for his company. The company served not only as employer to the workers who lived there, but also as landlord, shopkeeper, and town council. “We are born in a Pullman house, fed from the Pullman shops, taught in the Pullman school, catechized in the Pullman Church, and when we die we shall go to the Pullman Hell,” one laborer said. While many observers marveled at the order and cleanliness of the town, seeing in it a new future, some viewed it as more malevolent: an 1885 Harper’s Monthly report accused it of being paternalistic and restricting rights.
Pullman workers began to chafe against the restrictions, but it wasn’t until 1894 that resentment flared into major action. A national economic downturn had begun in 1893, and the Pullman Company was suffering, along with many other businesses. George Pullman slashed the wages of his workers by a quarter or more – but didn’t commensurately reduce their rents or the price of food.
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