Company town

A settlement whose economy and often housing are dominated by a single employer. The employer may also own local services, giving it influence over residents’ work and daily lives.

Employer-provided housing: Housing supplied or subsidized by an employer for its workers. When workers rent from their employer, losing a job can also mean losing a home.
Pullman, Chicago: A planned industrial district south of Chicago, built by the Pullman Palace Car Company in the 1880s. Its housing rules and labor conflict made it a prominent American example of company-town control.
Industrial Revolution: The transition to mechanized production and factory-based economies that began in Britain in the eighteenth century. Factory growth and concentrated workforces expanded the need for planned industrial settlements.
Pullman Strike: A nationwide American railroad strike in 1894 that began with a walkout at the Pullman Company’s factory and town. Rent reductions were refused during wage cuts, helping turn company-town dependence into a national labor confrontation.
Planned city: A city designed and laid out according to an integrated plan before or during its development. A planned city need not depend economically or politically on the organization that designed it.
Labor monopsony: A labor market in which employers have substantial power to set wages because workers have few alternatives. A dominant local employer can limit workers’ bargaining power and outside job options.
Lowell, Massachusetts: A Massachusetts mill city developed around textile factories beginning in the 1820s. Its boardinghouses and recruitment of young women illustrate an early industrial model of employer-managed living.
Industrial paternalism: An approach in which employers provide workers with welfare or community services while guiding their conduct. Many company-town founders presented housing and amenities as care while retaining authority over workers’ lives.
Ludlow Massacre: The 1914 killing of striking miners and their families at a tent colony near Ludlow, Colorado. The conflict exposed the violence surrounding company control of mining communities and workers’ housing.
Mining town: A settlement whose growth and livelihood are closely connected to nearby mining activity. A mining town becomes a company town only when one employer also dominates local life or housing.

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