George Pullman

George Mortimer Pullman (March 3, 1831 – October 19, 1897) is an American engineer and industrialist.

He designs and manufactures the Pullman sleeping car, and founds a company town, Pullman, for the workers who manufacture it.

His Pullman Company also hires African-American men to staff the Pullman cars, who become known and widely respected as Pullman porters, providing elite service.

Struggling to maintain profitability during an 1894 downturn in manufacturing demand, he lowers wages and requires workers to spend longer hours at the plant, but does not lower prices of rents and goods in his company town.

He gains presidential support by Grover Cleveland for the use of federal military troops in the violent suppression of workers there to end the Pullman Strike of 1894.

A national commission is appointed to investigate the strike, which includes assessment of operations of the company town.

In 1898, the Supreme Court of Illinois orders the Pullman Company to divest itself of the town, which is annexed and absorbed by Chicago, becoming a neighborhood.

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