The record-union., 1898-01-09
PULLMAA'S UNIQUE CITY.
HOW TT WAS FOUNDED AND
THE FOUNDERS OBJECT.
It Was a Business Venture. but
There Were PhiIanthropic
Motives Back of 1t.

| his name. For the first thirteen wears
after the organization of his paface-car
company in 1867, it's sumptuous vehicles
We're built in shops at four widely scat
tered centers-St. Louis, Detroit. Elmi-
ra and Wilmington, Del But in 1879
a consolidation of interests was decided
upon. A year later it was carried into
effect
Mr. Pullman had something more In
view at this time than greater economy
and efficiency in administration and i'm
proved facilities for production. He
wanted to establish a community of
worllmen which should have no parallel
III America in respect 10 the neatness.
sanitary condition and artistic and
| moral Influences of its surroundings
and which should be radically different
/ IN these respects from the typical fac
tory village Of the East and the mining
settlements Of long-occupied regions
ike Pennsylvania.
| Chicago was situated centrally in the
territory where Pullman cars were most
| in demand. But the high price of land
inside the city limits, together with
other considerations, decided him to
select site out on the prairie. fourteen
miles south Of the heart of Chicago. A
tract including $500 acres. lying ON the
west shore Of a sheet OF water known
/ as Lake Calumet, and about five miles
from Lake Michigan, was purchased. A
great deal Of it was a bog But it was
redeemed by wise engineering skill and
| irresistible enterprise Almost like
magic there sprung from the soil a
small but beautiful and complete city.
1nasmuch as the Pullman Company
! erected not only numerous BUILDINGS
Tor its own manufacturing processes
foundries, FORCES, machine shops. car
penter shoss and paint shops-but also
the dwelling houses, stores. school
church, savings bank and railway sta
ton, this plan insured a certain stan
dard of beauty for all the places of
residence, secured q uniform strip of
| lawn in front of all the houses and
projected every tenant against slovenly
| nelghbors and corner groceries All
merchandise, whether it was dry goods
Iood, stationery, on fuel, was to be OBJ
tanned only in one locality, and in that
| iocalty the purchasers were sheltered
from the weather by a glass roof over
broad and graceful arcade. In like
manner the other business houses were
| Kept apart from the homes. And as
| Tor the ginmill, neither church nor
dwelling could have it next door. he
cause II was utterly excluded from the
pace so, TOO, was the gambling hell
Inc asphalt streets We're kept as clean
as parlor floor. Every habitation
was provided with gas. water and per-
lect Grams. The sewerage system was
SO arranged that all liquid refuse was
pumped away to a distance and used
IN fertlllzing vast farm Private and
pubic HoWer-beds dotted the lawns
Inc occupants Of the houses and the
people who carried on mercantile mr.
suits were all compelled to rent their
quarters of the company None of
them could own or build. The archi-
tects and builders We're hired bv tbe
| single corporation that dominated ev
erything, so that unity Of design and
poicy IN matters affecting the commu-
hlty as a whole was secured beyond all
RISK. The so-called City of Pullman. >"
which within few years after its
| foundation, in 1880, had a population
OF l2,0O0, was formally annexed TO Chi
| cago in 1889, but the company's char
ter gave it full administrative powers
IN its own domain.
| pretty theater was established in
this model settlement early in its his
| tory, and in 1888 a free public library
IN building of it's own. was formally
opened. At first it numbered only s.
OO0 volumes, carefully selected. but its
size has been nearly doubled by subse
quent additions. The library was Mr..
Pullman's personal gift to the people.
Ihere was also a small but attractive
park, with bandstand in it, in the CEN
ter of the town.
Although the labor troubles of 1894
exposed Mr.. Pullman to a good deal of
criticism and misrepresentation. it is
nevertheless true that in founding the
city which bore his name he was ami
mated very largely by philanthropic and
original ideas. His theory regarding
sleeping and drawing-room cars was
that their unprecedented elegance would
exert restraining and refining influence
upon the passengers, and that their
handsome carpets and upholstery would
not only be safe from the boots and ex-
pectorations of careless men. but that
the travelling public would be educated
by their surroundings. Of course. he
expected to make money incidentally
but his venture was generally considered
bold if not a crazy one at first. In
like manner he believed that the excep-
tional, artistic, intellectual and moral
influences with which he environed his
Workmen would not be thrown away.
but, on the contrary, would make them
more useful employees and better citi-
zens. Pride. ambition, self-respect, 10y
atty and thrift have certainly been slim
ulated to a great degree.
About half of the population of Pull
man are--or were a few years ago-op-
eratives in the car shops, and at least
two thousand We're depositors at the
savings bank. In 1893, before the last
period of hard times, their accumula-
tons in that institution amounted TO
nearly 100000. Besides those en-
ployes who rented dwellings inside the
city limits, there We're more than two
thousand who lived just over the line
About half of them owned their own
homes. The people are singularly
healthy and bright, as well as prosper
Gus. 1t has been asserted that a rep
resentative assembly of the residents
of Pullman gave distinct evidences of
superior refinement and thrift. as com
pared with any other body Of American
workmen.
There are in Europe several commu-
mites more or less closely resembling
that on the shore of Lake Calumet.
Krupp's employees at Essen. in Prussia,
constitute one of the most noted Then
there is the little town of Sal a.ire three
miles from Bradford. England, founded
by Sir Titus Salt, and situated on the
River Aire However, when John
Burns. the British labor leader. came to
this country in 1894 he pronounced