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the strike had taken its toll on the support and
                                                                                                     sympathy of the American public. When
                                                                                                     the General Managers’ Association, the
                                                                                                     federation of railroads that had overseen the
                                                                                                     response to the strike, turned on its workers
                                                                                                     and began hiring non-union employees, the
                                                                                                     strike fizzled. Federal troops were recalled on
                                                                                                     July 20th, and The Pullman Company
                                                                                                     reopened on August 2, agreeing to rehire the
                                                                                                     [non-criminal] striking workers on the
                                                                                                     condition that they sign a pledge never to join
                                                                                                     a union.

                                                                                                     THE AFTERMATH

                                                                                                        This local movement for worker rights had
                                                        Photo of the streamlined New York Central train the
                                                       20th Century Limited leaving Chicago’s LaSalle Street   set off a nationwide spark that strengthened
                                                         station on a trial run June 9, 1938. The train was    and emboldened unions across the country.
                                                               put into service on June 15, 1938.    To heal the nation and conciliate the
                                                                                                     organized labor, President Grover Cleveland
                                                      A New York Central 20th Century Limited Pullman Car
                                                        realized $2,640 at a Christie’s auction back in 2006.  and Congress changed the designation of
                                                                                                     Labor Day to a federal holiday. This legisla-
                                                                                                         tion pushed through Congress just six
             This All Pullman Train travel Poster sold for $50                                           days after the strike ended.
            at an online Bradfords auction in 2020 and shows                                                Pullman’s personal reputation was
                   Pullman’s international prowess.                                                      soiled after the Pullman Strike. Three
                                                                                                         years later, in 1897, he died of a heart
            poverty, he looked to build a company town                                                   attack at the age of 66, and in an
            adjacent to the factory for his workers.                                                     interesting twist of historic fact, Robert
            Pullman believed that the country air and                                                    Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln,
            fine facilities, “without agitators, saloons,                                                became the next company president. 
            and city vice districts,” would result in a                                                     The company closed its factory in the
            happy, loyal workforce. He employed                                                          Pullman neighborhood of Chicago in
            Architect Solon Spencer Beman and                                                            1955. The company ceased production
            Landscape Architect Nathan Barret to                                                         after the Amtrak Superliner cars were
            design the buildings and layout of Pullman                                                   introduced in 1982. Its remaining
            and its factories.                                                                           designs were purchased in 1987 when it
               The town of Pullman featured row               A Famous Pullman: The Erie 400 Interior    was absorbed by another company.
            houses with such unique amenities as      In 1925, Financier J.P. Morgan Jr. commissioned The Erie 400
            indoor plumbing (flush toilets), spacious,   for his personal rail car. At 85 feet long, the elegant Erie 400    PULLMAN
            well-ventilated and well-lit rooms, and    featured an open platform at the rear, an observation lounge,
            steam heating for the executive homes, well   four large bedroom suites, private baths, a large dining room,    COLLECTIBLES
            above the standards of the day. The company           a full kitchen, and crew quarters.        Pullman collectibles cover a lot of
            town offered shopping areas, churches,                            territory. The company branded all aspects of the passenger experience,
            theaters, parks, and a library.                                   providing travelers with lots to take home as souvenirs of their journey
               While designed and built as a model campus and community for his   aboard a Pullman. Headrest covers, blankets, individually wrapped
            employees, Pullman pulled the rug out from under his workers when   soap bars, wooden coat hangers, hand towels, menus, tableware, and
            manufacturing demand fell off in 1894. To cut costs, Pullman cut jobs   more have now found their way on to eBay, most under $100.
            and wages and increased working hours, but did not lower rents or   Occasionally, Pullman items of a greater value come up for sale at
            prices in the company town. As a result, many workers and their   Railroadiana auctions.
            families faced starvation. When a delegation of workers tried to present   While branded items have more sentimental value than financial,
            their grievances about low wages, poor living conditions, and 16-hour   Pullman model train cars are another story for train collectors. Model
            workdays directly to Pullman, he refused to meet with them and
            ordered them fired. The delegation then voted to strike, and Pullman
            workers walked off the job on May 11, 1894.
               Early on as the news spread, a great deal of sympathy existed in
            Chicago and elsewhere for the Pullman workers, who were seen as
            common men and women tyrannized by an abusive employer and
            landlord. Soon, other rail unions joined in solidarity. The strike and
            subsequent boycott by the American Railway Union shut down much
            of the nation’s freight and passenger traffic west of Detroit.
               As the strike wore on, Pullman pressured President Cleveland to end
            it by issuing a federal injunction that sent federal troops into Chicago
            on July 3 to end the “reign of terror” driven by workers and to
            undermine the boycott by getting the trains running again. Their
            presence only incited more anger and violence, and on July 6 some
            6,000 rioters destroyed hundreds of railcars in the South Chicago
            Panhandle yards. The next day, national guardsmen, after having been
            assaulted, fired into a mob, killing between 4 and 30 people and
            wounding many others.                                                    MTH HO Pullman 5-Car Heavyweight Passenger Set 80-40007.
               At almost three months in, the wanton and destructive violence of   These HO Heavyweight passenger cars operate on 22” Radius Curves. This MTH
            the Pullman workers, and the inconvenience and financial hardship of      Pullman 5-Car Set includes four sleeper cars, and an observation.
                                                                                       The set has a MSRP of $469.95. photo: MTH Electric Trains
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