Talk:George Pullman

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Untitled[edit]

George Pullman (1831-97) was the inventor of the Pullman sleeping car. When a Pullman car was attached to the funeral train carrying Abraham Lincoln's body, demand for Pullman's product surged, and the Pullman Sleeping Car Company grew quickly.

George Pullman and architect Solon Beman built the town of Pullman for his employees near 111th street. Pullman joked that the town had been named for both of them: the first syllable of his name, the second syllable of Beman's. The town of Pullman was a planned community, with schools, theaters, library, hotel, all operated by the Pullman Sleeping Car Company.


When the fortunes of the company declined in 1894, Pullman slashed wages by 25 percent. However, he neglected to lower the rents or cost of groceries in the company town. A delegation of workers went to meet with Pullman and ask him to reduce these costs - the next day, these men were fired. His workers went on strike, aided by Eugene Debs' American Railway Union. Workers refused to handle any train with Pullman cars attached. In order to ensure that the mail on those trains would not be delayed, President Cleveland sent federal troops to break the strike, over the protests of Governor Altgeld. All Pullman employees were then required to sign a statement that they would never attempt to join a union.

Pullman was so hated by his employees that when he died in 1897, his heirs feared that the body would be stolen and held for ransom. The coffin was covered in tar paper and asphalt, and enclosed in the center of a room-sized block of concrete, reinforced with railroad ties. Ambrose Bierce said "It is clear the family in their bereavement was making sure the sonofabitch wasn't going to get up and come back."

The monument was designed by Solon Beman and features a towering Corinthian column, flanked by curved benches.

Question[edit]

It says that "Pullman cut jobs, wages and working hours." Is it true that he actually cut working hours at the same time? yep Wasn't there a guys that fought against his town or something??? Um some capitalism guy? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.89.232.59 (talk) 00:21, 21 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Needs tidying up[edit]

Rather poor job of editing done here. For instance: "The entire family was at "Castle Rest" for mother loosely acquainted with President U. S. Grant, he entertained a presidential party at Pullman Island in 1872 (an election year)."

This is poorly expressed and is not the only example of sloppy expression in this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.12.252.12 (talk) 04:15, 3 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Not only sloppy, it is full of weasel wqords, repetitions, and unintelligible gibberish. If I find the time, I'll work it over. Looks like the author himself rated it C-class... Kraxler (talk) 05:51, 12 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"Pullman hell" quotation[edit]

Recently, someone added the "Pullman cemetery" clause to the "Pullman hell" quotation, but the source currently referenced here (The Pullman State Historic Site) did not include it. But after seeing the "Pullman cemetery" part listed elsewhere, I became curious.

I found a Google Books result [1] that includes the cemetery clause, but the author does not cite a source. In fact, most of the top Google Books results include the phrase (including one that uses "graves" and deviates from the standard wording for the other clauses as well)—but one would think the State Historic Site would be authoritative. One of them does provide a source, but it's another book, The Bending Cross, that I can't read online (written 1989).

Thoughts? Any way we could determine if one version or the other is definitive?

-- LtPowers 22:49, 3 July 2009 (EDT)

Why is there no reference to William d'Alton Mann?[edit]

The inventor of the boudoir car was William d'Alton Mann who has a page here. From what I have read about Mann, Mann over-extended himself to develop this, so he sold his patent to Pullman who developed it into the famous luxury brand. But this is not reflected in the entry and deserves to be checked? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Stephen Conrad (talk • contribs) 11:15, 30 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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