6 ms·

Fascinating. Are there other examples of industrialists from that era building their own towns? I know I have heard of some, but none come to mind right now.

GreyGhost 10y ago
Pullman, Illinois was founded by George Pullman of the Pullman Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman,_Chicago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman,_Chicago
atarian 10y ago
Before Brazil, Ford tried to build Muscle Shoals, Alabama into a dream city: http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2013/01/post_89.html http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2013/01/post_89.html A similar kind of thing is currently happening up in Vermont, where someone is trying to build a utopia for Mormons: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-newvistas-mormon-utopia/ https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-newvistas-mormon-uto...
Jacqued 10y ago
In France the Familistère de Guise is renowned, as a kind of socialist utopia for workers, built by an industry leader to house the workers. It's not exactly a "town" but I think it's close enough as it housed 1700 people and took care of their every need. http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/familistere-de-guise http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/familistere-de-guise (There's no article in the English Wikipedia but you can try for the French one)
megous 10y ago
Tomáš Baťa http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2010/0305/Workers-paradise-The-town-built-by-Czech-version-of-Henry-Ford http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2010/0305/Workers-paradise-Th...
ucaetano 10y ago
In Brazil there are dozens, most of them English, some examples: Paranapiacaba, a railroad village at the end of a major inclined place railroad overcoming the coastal range, close to Sao Paulo: https://goo.gl/maps/hE5X7sVhZ4K2 https://goo.gl/maps/hE5X7sVhZ4K2 Brazilian Meat Company (today Frigorífico Anglo) in Barretos, the first cold-storage slaughterhouse in Brazil: https://goo.gl/maps/hWuQPGwViF32 https://goo.gl/maps/hWuQPGwViF32
dv_dt 10y ago
Appalachia was filled with coal mining company towns. https://owlcation.com/humanities/Old-coal-mining-towns-of-Appalacia-linger-in-the-past https://owlcation.com/humanities/Old-coal-mining-towns-of-Ap...
gumby 10y ago
It was common in England. Cadbury is one of the most famous because of its idealistic foundations. Company towns were so common that Sinclair Lewis used them as a foundational element in The Jungle.
to3m 10y ago
There's quite a few in the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_village https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_village
wmblaettler 10y ago
Hershey, Pennsylvania http://www.hersheypa.com/about_hershey/our_proud_history/about_milton_hershey.php http://www.hersheypa.com/about_hershey/our_proud_history/abo...
tobych 10y ago
Boulder City, Nevada, was built as a semi-permanent town in 1931 to house 5,000 working on the Hoover Dam. The Wikipedia entry says the city "was exceptionally rare as an example of a town fully planned under government supervision. This is unlike 19th century privately funded company town examples found in the United Kingdom, such as Port Sunlight, or in the United States, such as Pullman, Chicago." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulder_City,_Nevada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulder_City,_Nevada The thing that fascinates me about company and government towns is the rules the residents ended up having to follow. In Boulder City, no drinking, prostitution or gambling. In Saltaire, UK, no hanging washing on a line, or "Gatherings or loitering of more than eight persons in the streets". http://www.saltairevillageexperience.co.uk/rules-for-living-in-saltaire-village-1853-1876/ http://www.saltairevillageexperience.co.uk/rules-for-living-...
- vogt 10y ago
  Boulder City has retained status as an anti-gaming community despite being not much other than a quiet retiree town these days, and work on the Hoover Dam being complete for a long time now.
subpixel 10y ago
Alfred Dolge built a factory town near the Adirondacks and gave his workers health care, insurance, and profit-sharing in the 19th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dolge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dolge The factory featured a pre-Edison hydro-powered dynamo and was the second place in the world to have electric lights: http://www.edisontechcenter.org/Dolgeville.html http://www.edisontechcenter.org/Dolgeville.html This article suggests that he was forced into bankruptcy by his creditor-peers, who feared his socialist business practices would ruin the system that enabled their wealth: https://upstateearth.blogspot.com/2011/02/downfall-of-alfred-dolge.html https://upstateearth.blogspot.com/2011/02/downfall-of-alfred... Interestingly, when he was run out of New York he founded a second utopian company town in Los Angeles (Alhambra) but with less success: http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-31/local/me-41998_1_alfred-dolge http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-31/local/me-41998_1_alfr...
rmason 10y ago
C. Harold Wills was Henry Ford's first employee and right hand man. Henry couldn't pay him initially so he granted him perpetually ten percent of the companies earnings. That became rather expensive and he eventually bought him out. Wills wanted to build the perfect automobile which had to be built in the perfect town by workers who could walk to work. Having lots of money he bought some farmland near Port Huron, Michigan and created the town of Marysville. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marysville%2C_Michigan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marysville%2C_Michigan Unfortunately Wills was a far better engineer than a business person. The car, the Wills Ste Claire, was quite innovative but he eventually went broke. http://uniquecarsandparts.com/images/lost_marques/Wills_Sainte_Claire/Wills_Sainte_Claire_L4.jpg http://uniquecarsandparts.com/images/lost_marques/Wills_Sain... There's an outstanding museum in Marysville featuring the car. My father restored a Wills Ste. Claire and it was always his favorite. http://www.willsautomuseum.org/ http://www.willsautomuseum.org/

GreyGhost 10y ago

Pullman, Illinois was founded by George Pullman of the Pullman Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman,_Chicago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman,_Chicago

atarian 10y ago

Before Brazil, Ford tried to build Muscle Shoals, Alabama into a dream city: http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2013/01/post_89.html http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2013/01/post_89.html A similar kind of thing is currently happening up in Vermont, where someone is trying to build a utopia for Mormons: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-newvistas-mormon-utopia/ https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-newvistas-mormon-uto...

Jacqued 10y ago

In France the Familistère de Guise is renowned, as a kind of socialist utopia for workers, built by an industry leader to house the workers. It's not exactly a "town" but I think it's close enough as it housed 1700 people and took care of their every need. http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/familistere-de-guise http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/familistere-de-guise (There's no article in the English Wikipedia but you can try for the French one)

megous 10y ago

Tomáš Baťa http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2010/0305/Workers-paradise-The-town-built-by-Czech-version-of-Henry-Ford http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2010/0305/Workers-paradise-Th...

ucaetano 10y ago

In Brazil there are dozens, most of them English, some examples: Paranapiacaba, a railroad village at the end of a major inclined place railroad overcoming the coastal range, close to Sao Paulo: https://goo.gl/maps/hE5X7sVhZ4K2 https://goo.gl/maps/hE5X7sVhZ4K2 Brazilian Meat Company (today Frigorífico Anglo) in Barretos, the first cold-storage slaughterhouse in Brazil: https://goo.gl/maps/hWuQPGwViF32 https://goo.gl/maps/hWuQPGwViF32

dv_dt 10y ago

Appalachia was filled with coal mining company towns. https://owlcation.com/humanities/Old-coal-mining-towns-of-Appalacia-linger-in-the-past https://owlcation.com/humanities/Old-coal-mining-towns-of-Ap...

gumby 10y ago

It was common in England. Cadbury is one of the most famous because of its idealistic foundations. Company towns were so common that Sinclair Lewis used them as a foundational element in The Jungle.

to3m 10y ago

There's quite a few in the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_village https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_village

wmblaettler 10y ago

Hershey, Pennsylvania http://www.hersheypa.com/about_hershey/our_proud_history/about_milton_hershey.php http://www.hersheypa.com/about_hershey/our_proud_history/abo...

tobych 10y ago

Boulder City, Nevada, was built as a semi-permanent town in 1931 to house 5,000 working on the Hoover Dam. The Wikipedia entry says the city "was exceptionally rare as an example of a town fully planned under government supervision. This is unlike 19th century privately funded company town examples found in the United Kingdom, such as Port Sunlight, or in the United States, such as Pullman, Chicago." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulder_City,_Nevada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulder_City,_Nevada The thing that fascinates me about company and government towns is the rules the residents ended up having to follow. In Boulder City, no drinking, prostitution or gambling. In Saltaire, UK, no hanging washing on a line, or "Gatherings or loitering of more than eight persons in the streets". http://www.saltairevillageexperience.co.uk/rules-for-living-in-saltaire-village-1853-1876/ http://www.saltairevillageexperience.co.uk/rules-for-living-...

vogt 10y ago
Boulder City has retained status as an anti-gaming community despite being not much other than a quiet retiree town these days, and work on the Hoover Dam being complete for a long time now.

subpixel 10y ago

Alfred Dolge built a factory town near the Adirondacks and gave his workers health care, insurance, and profit-sharing in the 19th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dolge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dolge The factory featured a pre-Edison hydro-powered dynamo and was the second place in the world to have electric lights: http://www.edisontechcenter.org/Dolgeville.html http://www.edisontechcenter.org/Dolgeville.html This article suggests that he was forced into bankruptcy by his creditor-peers, who feared his socialist business practices would ruin the system that enabled their wealth: https://upstateearth.blogspot.com/2011/02/downfall-of-alfred-dolge.html https://upstateearth.blogspot.com/2011/02/downfall-of-alfred... Interestingly, when he was run out of New York he founded a second utopian company town in Los Angeles (Alhambra) but with less success: http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-31/local/me-41998_1_alfred-dolge http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-31/local/me-41998_1_alfr...

rmason 10y ago

C. Harold Wills was Henry Ford's first employee and right hand man. Henry couldn't pay him initially so he granted him perpetually ten percent of the companies earnings. That became rather expensive and he eventually bought him out. Wills wanted to build the perfect automobile which had to be built in the perfect town by workers who could walk to work. Having lots of money he bought some farmland near Port Huron, Michigan and created the town of Marysville. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marysville%2C_Michigan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marysville%2C_Michigan Unfortunately Wills was a far better engineer than a business person. The car, the Wills Ste Claire, was quite innovative but he eventually went broke. http://uniquecarsandparts.com/images/lost_marques/Wills_Sainte_Claire/Wills_Sainte_Claire_L4.jpg http://uniquecarsandparts.com/images/lost_marques/Wills_Sain... There's an outstanding museum in Marysville featuring the car. My father restored a Wills Ste. Claire and it was always his favorite. http://www.willsautomuseum.org/ http://www.willsautomuseum.org/