The invention of the railroad was probably the most important occurrence in the nineteenth century. The United States became a unified front and interstate travel become safe, cheap and efficient. Industries related to the railroad began to prosper, fueling much of the American economy. Entrepreneurs quickly began to take advantage of this boom and thus “American Big Business” was born. George Pullman was one of the many prominent tycoons of this “Railroad Era”. Through the use of his talented ingenuity and high organizational skills, he acquired a vast fortune and immense power.

George Pullman is most notably credited for the creation of the Pullman Sleeping Car. Its invention enhanced the pleasure of railroad travel by making it more comfortable, clean and exciting. As George Pullman’s invention gained quick public approval, his company began to expand at an enormous rate. This presented a great deal of problems to Pullman. “The company wanted to increase efficiency and economy in servicing and providing cars by spreading facilities. He [Pullman] wanted several hundred acres adjacent to railroad and water transportation.” In 1868, Pullm

Many of the residents of Pullman felt they lacked an identity within the town. The company controlled many minute aspects of living and demanded for residents to uphold certain social rules. Many even went on to publicly admit that they “were on public display and must act so as not to shame the company.” Families lacked a sense of privacy. If a family would be seen in the evening lounging on their doorsteps, “the husband in his shirtsleeves smoking a pipe, his untidy wife darning, and half-dressed children playing about them” the company inspectors would visit to threaten fines unless proper care was taken.

When Pullman planned his model town his chief concerns were for elevating business productivity. His emphasis on social conditions in the town was unrealistic with the true intentions of the workingmen. Even though the town was equipped with a library, theater, church and hotel bar they were ill matched to the simple bred workers. The library’s facilities were very vast, yet membership never exceeded two hundred. “Some believed it too expensive, while others found the luxuriousness forbidding.” The Arcade Theater was also marvel architecture, yet it was under the total control of Pullman. “He wanted to pick only such plays as he could invite his family to enjoy with the utmost propriety.” This signifies Pullman’s control of the town and the lack of democracy it had. When Richard Ely visited the town (writing for Harper’s magazine) he said: “The town’s weakness was the total power of the company and the absence of self-government. In consequence, the resident had everything done for him, nothing by him… the benefits resulting from Pullman’s superior environment would be more than nullified by its lack of democracy.”

Pullman was deeply troubled by the social problems of the mid- nineteenth century. He believed that they were the root of the labor unrest his company was experiencing. “The period showed a dramatic intensification in the numbers of the urban poor, as people with little capital and few useful skills came to the cities in search for employment.” Livin

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