![]() Before long, work began on the first non-industrial building in town - The Hotel Florence, named for George Pullman’s eldest child. The company also provided the residents with a physician and medicines, and fire protection. Hotel Florence, Pullman, Illinois, late 1800s. Employees were not required to live in Pullman, although workers tended to get better treatment if they lived in the town. He also established behavioral standards that workers had to meet to live in the area. The rent charged for the buildings was planned to ensure a six percent return on the company’s investment. Rent for dwellings was deducted from employees’ paychecks. Two rooms in the cheaper apartment buildings built for the lower-income workers were rented for $4.00 a month, and the two-story rowhouses from $14.00 to $100.00 a month. These features, along with the relative spaciousness of the homes, placed Pullman’s accommodations well above the standards of the day. The town’s streets were paved, and these were swept and watered daily, and the sewage from the town was converted into fertilizer and sold at a profit. Interior walls were purposefully painted in light colors to provide a cheerful environment. Interiors featured high ceilings and large windows. All dwellings included gas, running water, indoor plumbing, sewers, and regular garbage removal.īuilding exteriors were red brick with limestone trim. Some apartment structures, duplex buildings, and a few single-family houses were also built. It was primarily comprised of row houses erected in long blocks but with a great variety of floor areas, detailing, and elevations. ![]() Housing for workers was separated from the industrial areas. Soon other residents began moving into the dwellings. These shops would be employed to contribute to continuing construction.īy January 1, 1881, the town was ready for its first resident and Lee Benson, a foreman from the Pullman Company’s Detroit, Michigan shop, moved his wife, child, and sister into the new company town. The brick was manufactured from clay found on the site. By fall, several factory shops were completed to refine the building materials that included painting, iron, woodworking, and a brickyard was built south of the site. Groundbreaking for the “first all-brick city” began on April 24, 1880, and work proceeded at a furious pace, with over 100 railroad supply cars unloaded per week over the summer. The town’s layout was planned to include Arcade Park and Lake Vista in a curvilinear fashion to avoid monotony. Buildings that housed shops and services included Romanesque arches. Desiring buildings that would be both practical and aesthetically pleasing, the homes were designed in a simple yet elegant Queen Anne style. Architect Solon Spencer Beman and Landscape Architect Nathan Barret were hired to design the town’s layout, buildings, and factories. ![]() It was 14 miles south of Chicago between Lake Calumet and the Illinois Central rail line south of Chicago. The Pullman Palace Car Company purchased 4,000 acres of undeveloped prairie land in the Village of Hyde Park. In late April 1880, George Pullman announced his plans to build the town and new factory. Pullman’s objective in building a company town was to attract a superior type of employee and further elevate these individuals by excluding adverse influences.ĭemand for Pullman cars and a growing workforce led Pullman to the development of his company town. The town was developed by George Mortimer Pullman, an American engineer and industrialist who designed and manufactured the Pullman sleeper and luxury rail cars.Īfter the United States experienced the Great Railroad Strike in 1877, its legacy included more powerful unions and a tendency for employers to consider the broader well-being of their employees.
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