DECEMBER 29, 2022
- PULLMAN TIMELINE
- 1864: George Pullman constructs the first Pullman sleeping car, the Pioneer.
- 1867: George Pullman founds the Pullman Palace Car Company.
- 1880: George Pullman begins building the nation’s first planned industrial company town on Chicago’s South Side, designed by architect Solon S. Beman and landscape architect Nathan Barrett.
- 1893–1894: An economic depression hits; the Pullman Company cuts workers’ wages without lowering high rents in the company town.
- 1894: The historic Pullman Strike and national boycott take place, led by the American Railway Union and ended by a federal court injunction.
- 1925: A. Philip Randolph founds the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first all-African American labor union.
- 1937: The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters achieves a landmark collective bargaining agreement with the Pullman Company
- December 31, 1968: Pullman officially stopped operating its iconic sleeping cars.
- 1969: The company was formally dissolved.
- Why did Pullman go out of business?
- Antitrust Lawsuits: Pullman built luxury railcars and operated them on nearly every major railroad, giving them a monopoly over U.S. rail travel. In 1944, a federal antitrust ruling forced the company to separate its manufacturing division from its service operations. Pullman sold off its sleeping car division in 1947.
- Decline of Passenger Rail: After World War II, the rise of the Interstate Highway System, commercial air travel, and the general decline of long-distance passenger trains drastically reduced demand for sleeper cars.
- Financial & Labor Pressures: Earlier historical strains—such as the severe economic fallout from the Panic of 1893, the infamous 1894 Pullman Strike, and rising labor costs from organizations like the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters—gradually eroded the company’s historic dominance
THANKS FOR VISITING, STEVE