George Pullman, from Wikipedia
I believe that the name of Pullman drive is a reference to the Pullman railway carriage, because it is close to the railway.
I haven’t been able to find any specific Salisbury connection with the word or name ‘Pullman’, but I have found roads named ‘Pullman’ in other parts of the country which are also close to the railway lines. There’s a ‘Pullman Court’ next to the railway in Gloucester (1), another Pullman Drive in Northwich (2), and a Pullman Way in Ringwood (3), which is near the route of a disused railway line that is now a footpath called the Castleman Trailway (4).
‘Pullman’ sounds to me, in the context of a railway carriage, like a word that was invented to be suitable for the purpose, like the ‘Routemaster’ bus, or the Sony ‘Walkman’. However, a little investigation shows that this isn’t the case.
George Pullman
George Pullman was born in 1831 in New York.
He was originally a cabinet maker, but became successful as a mover of buildings. He was involved in two major projects – first moving houses and businesses to make way for the building of the Erie Canal, and then raising buildings in Chicago to allow for improved sewage and drainage. I should stress here that this wasn’t ‘moving’ in the sense of ‘removals’ as when you or I move house – it was physically moving the building from one place to another.
Subsequent to this Pullman moved to Colorado and became a trader in gold, but he only continued with this for 4 years or so – whether this was because he wasn’t successful, or whether it just didn’t suit his character, I don’t know.
The Pullman Car
Pullman’s next major project, and massive success, was the development of the Pullman Car. He developed a new design for a railway carriage that was far more comfortable, more luxurious than anything that had been built before.
His first car, in 1864, was a sleeper – the ‘Palace’ car.
Pullman’s creation came to prominence when one of the cars was attached to the train used to transport the body of Abraham Lincoln back to Illinois after his assassination in 1865.
Subsequent cars were the ‘President’, which added a kitchen and di ning car, and then the ‘Delmonico’, in which the food and dining car were developed and run with the then famous Delmonico’s restaurant in New York.
Crucially in view of what was to come, all of the cars were leased to the railroad operators – they were never sold.
The Pullman factory town
In 1880, Pullman built a factory town, or village, near Chicago, and called it Pullman. It had many of the advantages of factory villages built by humanitarian factory owners – it was clean, had good facilities and was well built. However, Pullman strictly controlled what went on in his village. Public meetings and independent newspapers were not permitted. It was said that
We are born in a Pullman house, fed from the Pullman shops, taught in the Pullman school, catechized in the Pullman Church, and when we die we shall go to the Pullman Hell.(5)
The 1894 Strike
The worst aspects of the ‘factory town’ concept became apparent in 1894. Business had fallen off over the previous year. Pullman cut both hours and wages, but the rents and charges within the Pullman village remained the same – the village had always been intended to run at a profit.
The American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, called a strike, both in the Pullman factories, and because he still owned the carriages, on the railroads themselves.
The strikes were violently suppressed by federal troops. 37 workers were killed, and those suspected of being labour leaders were sacked, and evicted from their Pullman houses.
Pullman was criticized in a subsequent government enquiry, and the way in which he ran his new town was called ‘un-American’.Pullman died in 1897. He was buried in the Graceland cemetery in Chicago. His coffin was encased in a room-sized block of concrete, and his tomb was guarded for a year after the burial, for fear that the grave would be desecrated (6).
Was Pullman too controversial to name roads after?
It’s perhaps a bit surprising that roads have been named after such a controversial figure. Why would a man at least partly responsible for 37 deaths be honoured in such a way?
You could certainly argue that George Pullman may not have intended for people to die. His business practices were ruthless – but business people will always do whatever they can get away with. Pullman was basically doing what capitalists do.
Whether this is true or false, I think more significant is the time and distance between us and the Chicago of 1894.
As I said at the start of this post, I didn’t know that Pullman was somebody’s name. ‘Pullman’ has become synonymous with the railway carriages which themselves symbolize luxury, elegance and old fashioned values – all of which would be good things to associate with a development of new houses.
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[...] Pullman Drive (903 words) – Pullman was so hated his tomb was encased in concrete. [...]
[...] is one of the two most controversial people to have a road named after them in the Salisbury area. George Pullman is the other, although I feel that Pullman Drive is probably a reference to his railway carriages [...]