The Obituary
George Pullman incorporated his company in 1867 to build and operate luxurious railroad sleeping cars, which he leased to railroads across America along with the porters, mostly Black men, who staffed them. He also built a model company town near Chicago, where a wage cut during the 1893 depression sparked the violent 1894 Pullman Strike, a turning point in US labor history. The company dominated rail sleeping-car service for decades. As automobiles and then jet airliners drew travelers away from overnight trains, demand collapsed. Pullman ended its sleeping-car operations in 1968, and its manufacturing arm faded soon after.
Worth remembering
- Its sleeping cars and the Pullman porters, mostly Black workers, became an institution of American rail travel.
- The 1894 Pullman Strike over wage cuts in its company town turned violent and reshaped US labor law.
Sources
- The Pullman Company operated luxury sleeping cars from 1867 and ceased sleeping-car operations in 1968 Wikipedia
- The 1894 Pullman Strike was a landmark event in American labor history Encyclopaedia Britannica
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.