Pullman's failed utopia

[CHamilton]

Blood on the Tracks in Pullman: Chicagoland's Failed Capitalist Utopia

In 1880 industrialist George Pullman set out to build a capitalist utopia. The town of Pullman was established just outside of Chicago as a model community—a place that was supposed to produce both happy workers and a nice return for Pullman's investors. It turned out to be a miserable failure. And conditions in the town were so terrible that it was the catalyst for one of America's most famous strikes: the Pullman Strike of 1894.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Thanks Charlie! Most histories gloss over how badly Pullman actually treated their employees, whether workers on the ground or the OBS, especially the Black employees!

Sure it was considered a good job compared to the terrible conditions other places, but the Robber Barons basically treated working people like crap which led to the rise of Unions!

Its probably time for this to happen again as the 1% rake in 97% of the wealth as middle class and working folks suffer in this so called " booming economy"!

You could look it up as the saying goes!

 

[Metra Electric Guest]

Pullman was dry - which most workers didn't like. They would bring in barrels of beer on weekends manually (i.e. rolling them in). Then there was the fact that the housing was rented, which led to the growth of Roseland (immediately adjacent, west of the IC tracks), where workers could actually buy their own homes/houses despite having less infrastructure (paving, gas, etc). And that's just the town itself!

All that said, it is worth a visit, it's a really cool place and truly unique.

 

[cirdan]

Sounds fascinating. I would definitely like to visit it.

I'm surprised this scheme failed so dismally, whereas in Britain there were similar company towns that were a hige success. Cadbury's for example built a little city for its workers in Bourneville and it grew into a bit of a model town. Cadbury's still bathes in the respect over that today.