rachelmargolis1
Pullman, Illinois
Thirteen miles south of Chicago stands the town of Pullman, an excellent example of what was intended to be an industrial utopia. Observing the pitiful living conditions of the modern workman, railroad tycoon George Pullman purchased 4,500 acres of land on Lake Calumet. When "Pullman Town" opened in 1881, it offered quality housing for workers at more affordable prices than elsewhere in the city. Small apartments, row houses, and larger homes were available, all with running water and indoor toilets. The gas works, just north of Pullman on this map, lighted the town. There were also shops, schools, public meeting places, theaters, a church, and even a racecourse (but no saloons).
Pullman's idea of a model town was consistent with contemporary visions of both the garden suburb and the industrial paradise. Greenery and natural beauty were central to his plan; the town was noted for its tree-lined streets, its parks and playgrounds (one is marked on the map), and its company-operated greenhouse and nursery. Entirely self-contained, it utilized the land, modern technology, and synergistic interaction between the two. As Almont Lindsey mentions, "in excavating [an artificial lake] the dirt was used to raise the site of the carshops; and in supplying water for the lake the company utilized the overflow of the great Corliss engine which furnished power for the Pullman shops." The bricks used to build the town were produced at the brickyard just to the south, using clay dredged up from Lake Calumet. And the sewage of Pullman fertilized a self-sufficient farm that fed its people. For these reasons and more, the town was hailed as the epitome of a century of urban reform.
It would seem that Pullman sought to combine the comfort and aesthetic characteristics of Lewis Mumford's "Country House" with the regimented, industry-centered "Coketown." The twist was that everything, from garbage collection to community cricket matches, was run by the Pullman Company and its officials. The result was a utopia that was almost totalitarian, the product of a science fiction novelist's imagination. This made some residents uneasy. One exclaimed, "We were born in a Pullman house, fed from a Pullman shop, catechized in the Pullman church, and when we die we shall be buried in the Pullman cemetery and go to a Pullman hell!" In 1894, a financially strained Pullman cut his employees' wages without reducing their rent, prompting a massive labor strike. After a prolonged struggle, the Illinois Supreme Court forced him to sell off Pullman Town. Dangerously tied to the fortune of a single company and the whim of a single industrialist, the "company town" had failed as a model for utopia.
Map:
McNally, Rand. Chicago [map]. 1897. 1:57,000. "Rand, McNally & Co.'s indexed atlas of the world street guide map of Chicago". David Rumsey Map Collection. www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/s/43738q (accessed May 29, 2014).
Other Sources:
Grossman, Ron. "Pullman Village Was No Utopia For Its Working Inhabitants."Chicago Tribune, December 9, 1998. articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-12-09/features/981209013... (accessed May 29, 2014).
Lindsey, Almont. The Pullman strike: the story of a unique experiment and of a great labor upheaval. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.
"The Pullman State Historic Site." : The Town of Pullman. www.pullman-museum.org/theTown/ (accessed May 29, 2014).
"The Town of Pullman." Historic Pullman Foundation. www.pullmanil.org/town.htm (accessed May 29, 2014).
Pullman, Illinois
Thirteen miles south of Chicago stands the town of Pullman, an excellent example of what was intended to be an industrial utopia. Observing the pitiful living conditions of the modern workman, railroad tycoon George Pullman purchased 4,500 acres of land on Lake Calumet. When "Pullman Town" opened in 1881, it offered quality housing for workers at more affordable prices than elsewhere in the city. Small apartments, row houses, and larger homes were available, all with running water and indoor toilets. The gas works, just north of Pullman on this map, lighted the town. There were also shops, schools, public meeting places, theaters, a church, and even a racecourse (but no saloons).
Pullman's idea of a model town was consistent with contemporary visions of both the garden suburb and the industrial paradise. Greenery and natural beauty were central to his plan; the town was noted for its tree-lined streets, its parks and playgrounds (one is marked on the map), and its company-operated greenhouse and nursery. Entirely self-contained, it utilized the land, modern technology, and synergistic interaction between the two. As Almont Lindsey mentions, "in excavating [an artificial lake] the dirt was used to raise the site of the carshops; and in supplying water for the lake the company utilized the overflow of the great Corliss engine which furnished power for the Pullman shops." The bricks used to build the town were produced at the brickyard just to the south, using clay dredged up from Lake Calumet. And the sewage of Pullman fertilized a self-sufficient farm that fed its people. For these reasons and more, the town was hailed as the epitome of a century of urban reform.
It would seem that Pullman sought to combine the comfort and aesthetic characteristics of Lewis Mumford's "Country House" with the regimented, industry-centered "Coketown." The twist was that everything, from garbage collection to community cricket matches, was run by the Pullman Company and its officials. The result was a utopia that was almost totalitarian, the product of a science fiction novelist's imagination. This made some residents uneasy. One exclaimed, "We were born in a Pullman house, fed from a Pullman shop, catechized in the Pullman church, and when we die we shall be buried in the Pullman cemetery and go to a Pullman hell!" In 1894, a financially strained Pullman cut his employees' wages without reducing their rent, prompting a massive labor strike. After a prolonged struggle, the Illinois Supreme Court forced him to sell off Pullman Town. Dangerously tied to the fortune of a single company and the whim of a single industrialist, the "company town" had failed as a model for utopia.
Map:
McNally, Rand. Chicago [map]. 1897. 1:57,000. "Rand, McNally & Co.'s indexed atlas of the world street guide map of Chicago". David Rumsey Map Collection. www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/s/43738q (accessed May 29, 2014).
Other Sources:
Grossman, Ron. "Pullman Village Was No Utopia For Its Working Inhabitants."Chicago Tribune, December 9, 1998. articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-12-09/features/981209013... (accessed May 29, 2014).
Lindsey, Almont. The Pullman strike: the story of a unique experiment and of a great labor upheaval. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.
"The Pullman State Historic Site." : The Town of Pullman. www.pullman-museum.org/theTown/ (accessed May 29, 2014).
"The Town of Pullman." Historic Pullman Foundation. www.pullmanil.org/town.htm (accessed May 29, 2014).