Company town
Encyclopedia
A company town is a town
or city
in which much or all real estate
, building
s (both residential
and commercial
), utilities, hospital
s, small business
es such as grocery store
s and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company. The term is used in the US and UK to refer to a town or city where loyalty to the company that is perceived to be responsible for its success is expected and that company is, or was, a major employer in the area.
— coal
, metal mines
, lumber
— had established a monopoly franchise. Dam
sites and war-industry camps founded other company towns. Since company stores tend to have a monopoly in company towns, it was not uncommon for truck system
s to emerge in isolated company towns.
Typically, a company town will be isolated from neighbors and centered (figuratively, if not literally) around a large production factory
such as a lumber
or steel
mill or an automobile
plant; and the citizens of the town will either work in the factory, work in one of the smaller businesses, or be a family member of someone who does. The company may also operate park
s, host cultural
events such as concert
s, and so on. If the owning company cuts back or goes out of business, the economic
effect on the company town is devastating, and often fatal.
Company towns sometimes become regular public
cities and towns as they grow. Other times, a town may not officially be a company town, but it may be a town where the majority of citizens are employed by a single company, thus creating a similar situation to a company town (especially in regard to the town's economy).
One of the first company towns in the United States was Pullman, Chicago
, developed in the 1880s just outside the Chicago city limits. The town, entirely company-owned, provided housing, markets, a library, churches and entertainment for the 6,000 company employees and an equal number of dependents. Employees were required to live in Pullman, despite the fact that cheaper rentals could be found in nearby communities. In 1898 the Illinois Supreme Court required Pullman to dissolve their ownership of the town.
Another famous company town was McDonald, Ohio
, which was created by the Carnegie Steel Company
to house and serve the needs of its employees in the Youngstown, Ohio
area.
In the present day United States
, it is relatively rare for any place in which a single company owns all the property to be granted status as an incorporated municipality
. Rather, companies will normally prefer their wholly owned communities to remain unincorporated as this permits administration of the community to be carried out by appointed company officers rather than elected officials. However, there are incorporated municipalities that are heavily dependent upon a single industry or organization and may be loosely considered a "company town", even though the company does not technically own the town.
A different type of company town has appeared in the U.S. since the 1960s, where real estate companies started developing uninhabited tracts of unincorporated lands into huge master-planned communities. These can be called company towns since they were not developed as part of a city, but completely on their own. Often these towns then grow into full fledged cities and then become incorporated, such as Irvine, California
.
The adjacent cities of Bay Lake
and Lake Buena Vista
, near Orlando, Florida
in the Reedy Creek Improvement District
, are most widely known as the location of Walt Disney World Resort
. Being company towns, they are entirely owned by Disney
-related companies. A few token persons reside on the site; all are either employees of Disney or their immediate family members.
Although many prominent examples of company towns portray their founders as "capitalists with a conscience", for example George Cadbury
's Bourneville
, if viewed cynically the company town was often an economically viable ploy to attract and retain workers. Additionally, for-profit shops within company towns were usually owned by the company which were unavoidable to its isolated workers thus resulting in a monopoly for the owners.
Although economically successful, company towns sometimes failed politically due to a lack of elected officials and municipally owned services. Accordingly, workers often had no say in local affairs and therefore felt dictated to. Ultimately, this political climate caused resentment amongst workers and resulted in many residents eventually losing long-term affection for their towns; such was the case at Pullman.
was a model company town founded by the Pullman Palace Car Company in the 1880s. The town operated successfully until the economic panic of 1893
when demands for the company’s products declined and employee wages had to be lowered accordingly. Despite this the company refused to lower rents in the town or the price of goods at its shops, thus resulting in the Pullman Strike
of 1894. A national commission formed to investigate the causes of the strikes found that Pullman’s paternalism partly to blame and labelled it ‘un-American’.
However, government observers maintained that Pullman’s principles were accurate, in that he provided his employees with a quality of life otherwise unattainable to them, but recognised that his excessive paternalism was inappropriate for a large-scale corporate economy and thus caused the town’s downfall. Accordingly, government observers and social reformers alike saw the need for a balance between control and well-designed towns concluding that a model company town would only succeed if independent professionals, acting as a buffer between employers and employees, took a role in conception, planning, and management of these towns.
Thus the Pullman Strike did not kill the concept of a company town but rather initiated a new chapter in their existence. Over the next thirty years the old model of paternalism was abandoned in favour of new professionally designed company towns with architects, landscape architects, and planners translating “new concepts of industrial relations and social welfare into new physical forms”. This suited capitalists of the day who were obviously keen to avoid the experiences of Pullman. The first real example of this occurred at Indian Hill-North Village, Massachusetts in 1915.
(1888) and Bournville
(1895) were influential in regards to their building and planning innovation. The ideas generated from these model towns are regarded as having a significant influence on the Garden City movement
.
The model company town is concerned with creating a productive and prosperous company. Enlightened industrialists believed this could be achieved by providing a healthier residential environment for their employees. Planning a model company town involved the fusion of new notions of house design and layout. The paternalism of the enlightened industrialist was exhibited in his desire to provide an environment for his employees that was aesthetically appealing and which included well-designed residences, parks, schools, libraries and meeting halls. The industrialist also wished to contribute to his workers’ wellbeing by providing social programs such as sporting events and functions. This however, highlights the power and immense control possessed by the company owner who could shape the lifestyle and activities of his employees to serve his own interests and those of the company.
The creation of model company towns was particularly evident in Britain during the latter half of the nineteenth century with the creation of Saltaire
, Bournville
, Port Sunlight
, Creswell
and New Earswick, and coincided with the housing reform movement which emphasised the improvement of housing for the working class. These model towns contrasted with the overcrowded conditions in British working class districts which were often characterised by congested housing, unsanitary conditions, poor provision of open space and facilities. Model company towns promoted the idea of orderly, planned town development as well as the notion of planning for the needs of the community in order to provide healthier living conditions.
Port Sunlight
(1888) in Cheshire, was established by William Hesketh Lever (later Lord Leverhulme) of Lever Brothers – a soap and tallow manufacturer. The earlier layout of this model company town was planned to suit the undulating topography of the site. Port Sunlight catered for the Lever Brothers employees through the provision of improved housing (cottages of varying designs and materials) and gardens, as well as social and community facilities including an auditorium, school, tennis courts and bowling greens. Port Sunlight combined the use of formal and informal planning elements such as straight streets close to the town centre and curved streets in the residential areas. This combination of the formal and informal represented a new feature of British town planning.
Bournville
(1895) near Birmingham, was established by the Cadbury brothers, George and Richard. George and Richard Cadbury chose to transfer the Cadbury factory to this new site in order to provide their employees with improved living conditions and a country environment that they could enjoy - a far cry from the busy, smoky city centre of Birmingham. The firm provided education in the form of a compulsory academic course and workers were given the opportunity to complete commercial or technical training. Cadburys also encouraged their workers to get involved in the social life of Bournville through the provision of sports facilities, athletic and cultural clubs, as well as social events such as summer parties. George Cadbury
, a Quaker, preached Christian values such as respectability, thrift and sobriety and sought to unify the Bournville community through rituals such as gift giving between employer and employee. The firm also established work councils such as the Women’s Works Council and supported trade unions.
Bournville represented the union of industry and nature as the company town boasted the attractiveness of the countryside and low-density development characterised by well-built and visually appealing dwellings. Unlike Port Sunlight, Bournville catered for a mixed community where residences were not restricted to the workforce only. Bournville illustrated how, towards the end of the nineteenth century, low-density development was being emphasised along with the provision of open air, space and sunlight. Bournville’s gardens, parks, tree-lined streets, its sense of spaciousness and country setting enhanced its aesthetic appeal and demonstrated George Cadbury’s endeavour to provide workers with a healthy, beautiful and well-ventilated environment.
The Bolsover Company developed two exemplary mining communities in Derbyshire during the late nineteenth century, Bolsover
(1891) and Creswell
(1896). The Bolsover Company aimed to provide improved living conditions for the miners and their families in these model industrial villages. The houses at Creswell were built in concentric circles, and within these circles was large open parkland and a bandstand. Not only did the Bolsover Company aim to provide better housing, but they also wished to improve workers’ moral fibre, believing that the provision of facilities and the promotion of workers’ welfare would discourage drunkenness, gambling and bad language. The Bolsover Company provided facilities deemed beneficial for employees at both villages including clubhouses, bowling greens, cooperative society stores, cricket pitches and schools. During the early years of these model industrial villages, the Bolsover Company organised various events intended to enhance community life such as flower shows, lectures, sporting events, concerts, teas and dances.
By the 1920s the widespread nature of the automobile meant workers no longer needed to live near their work places and now had access to more employment opportunities. A combination of the freedom that came with private transport and the mass communication of radio saw the isolation of company towns lessen and the social basis of the company town become less necessary.
Furthermore, the accessibility of the working class to private transport also marked a step of equality as they had previously only been accessible to the wealthy. As access to surrounding municipalities increased, residents of company towns gained access to an increasing amount of government-funded public resources such as schools, libraries, and parks. Accordingly, there was no longer a need for the amenities of company towns which, prior to welfare capitalism
, had previously been unattainable to the working class.
This new found freedom saw a change in the mindset of workers who began to look on welfare capitalism as demeaning rather than an incentive. Accordingly, many employees began to request additional pay in lieu of welfare programs. This was well received by some employers as the idea of ‘laissez-faire’ individualism, which promoted entrepreneurial virtues of hard-work being rewarded rather than direct charity, began to shape new-age paternalism.
Modernisation and the increase in material well-being had also lessened the perceived need for paternalism and moral reform. Accordingly, the economic downturn of the early 1930s saw some businesses do away with employee welfare schemes to reduce costs. However, the Roosevelt Administration’s New Deal
dealt the final blow to end American company towns by raising minimum wages, encouraging industrial self-governance, and pushing for the owners of company towns to “consider the question of plans for eventual employee ownership of homes”. To a lesser extent the New Deal also reduced the need for employee housing by transforming housing finance to a lower-interest, lower-deposit system making home ownership more accessible to the working class.
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
or city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
in which much or all real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
, building
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
s (both residential
Dwelling
Dwelling, as well as being a term for a house, or for living somewhere, or for lingering somewhere, is a philosophical concept which was developed by Martin Heidegger. Dwelling is about making yourself at home where the home itself is a building that is a house...
and commercial
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
), utilities, hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s, small business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
es such as grocery store
Grocery store
A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...
s and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company. The term is used in the US and UK to refer to a town or city where loyalty to the company that is perceived to be responsible for its success is expected and that company is, or was, a major employer in the area.
Overview
Traditional settings for company towns were where extractive industriesResource extraction
The related terms natural resource extraction both refer to the practice of locating, acquiring and selling natural resources....
— coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, metal mines
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
, lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
— had established a monopoly franchise. Dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
sites and war-industry camps founded other company towns. Since company stores tend to have a monopoly in company towns, it was not uncommon for truck system
Truck system
A truck system is an arrangement in which employees are paid in commodities or some currency substitute , rather than with standard money. This limits employees' ability to choose how to spend their earnings—generally to the benefit of the employer...
s to emerge in isolated company towns.
Typically, a company town will be isolated from neighbors and centered (figuratively, if not literally) around a large production factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
such as a lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
or steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
mill or an automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
plant; and the citizens of the town will either work in the factory, work in one of the smaller businesses, or be a family member of someone who does. The company may also operate park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
s, host cultural
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
events such as concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s, and so on. If the owning company cuts back or goes out of business, the economic
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
effect on the company town is devastating, and often fatal.
Company towns sometimes become regular public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
cities and towns as they grow. Other times, a town may not officially be a company town, but it may be a town where the majority of citizens are employed by a single company, thus creating a similar situation to a company town (especially in regard to the town's economy).
United States
At their peak there were more than 2,500 company towns, housing 3% of the US population.One of the first company towns in the United States was Pullman, Chicago
Pullman, Chicago
Pullman, one of Chicago's 77 community areas, is a neighborhood located on the city's South Side. Twelve miles from the Chicago Loop, Pullman is situated adjacent Lake Calumet....
, developed in the 1880s just outside the Chicago city limits. The town, entirely company-owned, provided housing, markets, a library, churches and entertainment for the 6,000 company employees and an equal number of dependents. Employees were required to live in Pullman, despite the fact that cheaper rentals could be found in nearby communities. In 1898 the Illinois Supreme Court required Pullman to dissolve their ownership of the town.
Another famous company town was McDonald, Ohio
McDonald, Ohio
McDonald is a village in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,481 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:McDonald is located at ....
, which was created by the Carnegie Steel Company
Carnegie Steel Company
Carnegie Steel Company was a steel producing company created by Andrew Carnegie to manage business at his steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century.-Creation:...
to house and serve the needs of its employees in the Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
area.
In the present day United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, it is relatively rare for any place in which a single company owns all the property to be granted status as an incorporated municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
. Rather, companies will normally prefer their wholly owned communities to remain unincorporated as this permits administration of the community to be carried out by appointed company officers rather than elected officials. However, there are incorporated municipalities that are heavily dependent upon a single industry or organization and may be loosely considered a "company town", even though the company does not technically own the town.
A different type of company town has appeared in the U.S. since the 1960s, where real estate companies started developing uninhabited tracts of unincorporated lands into huge master-planned communities. These can be called company towns since they were not developed as part of a city, but completely on their own. Often these towns then grow into full fledged cities and then become incorporated, such as Irvine, California
Irvine, California
Irvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
.
The adjacent cities of Bay Lake
Bay Lake, Florida
Bay Lake is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 23 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S Census estimates of 2005, the city had a population of 22. It is named after Bay Lake, a lake east of the Magic Kingdom. Most of the Walt Disney World Resort, including...
and Lake Buena Vista
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Lake Buena Vista is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is mostly known for being home to the Walt Disney World Resort. It is one of two Florida municipalities controlled by The Walt Disney Company, the other being Bay Lake....
, near Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
in the Reedy Creek Improvement District
Reedy Creek Improvement District
The Reedy Creek Improvement District is the immediate governing jurisdiction for the land of the Walt Disney World Resort. As of the late 1990s, it comprised an area of within the outer limits of Orange and Osceola counties in Florida...
, are most widely known as the location of Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort
Walt Disney World Resort , is the world's most-visited entertaimental resort. Located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida ; approximately southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States, the resort covers an area of and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels Walt...
. Being company towns, they are entirely owned by Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
-related companies. A few token persons reside on the site; all are either employees of Disney or their immediate family members.
Paternalism
Paternalism, a subtle form of social engineering, refers to the control of workers by their employers who sought to force middle-class ideals upon their working-class employees. Similarly to some of today’s businessmen who concern themselves with environmental best practice, paternalism was considered by many nineteenth century businessmen as a moral responsibility, or often a religious obligation, which would advance society whilst furthering their own business interests. Accordingly, the company town offered a unique opportunity to achieve such ends.Although many prominent examples of company towns portray their founders as "capitalists with a conscience", for example George Cadbury
George Cadbury
George Cadbury was the third son of John Cadbury, a Quaker who founded Cadbury's cocoa and chocolate company.-Background:...
's Bourneville
Bourneville, Ohio
Bourneville is a census-designated place in central Twin Township, Ross County, Ohio, United States. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 45617. It lies along U.S. Route 50.-References:...
, if viewed cynically the company town was often an economically viable ploy to attract and retain workers. Additionally, for-profit shops within company towns were usually owned by the company which were unavoidable to its isolated workers thus resulting in a monopoly for the owners.
Although economically successful, company towns sometimes failed politically due to a lack of elected officials and municipally owned services. Accordingly, workers often had no say in local affairs and therefore felt dictated to. Ultimately, this political climate caused resentment amongst workers and resulted in many residents eventually losing long-term affection for their towns; such was the case at Pullman.
The Pullman lesson
Pullman, ChicagoPullman, Chicago
Pullman, one of Chicago's 77 community areas, is a neighborhood located on the city's South Side. Twelve miles from the Chicago Loop, Pullman is situated adjacent Lake Calumet....
was a model company town founded by the Pullman Palace Car Company in the 1880s. The town operated successfully until the economic panic of 1893
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. Similar to the Panic of 1873, this panic was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures...
when demands for the company’s products declined and employee wages had to be lowered accordingly. Despite this the company refused to lower rents in the town or the price of goods at its shops, thus resulting in the Pullman Strike
Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads that occurred in the United States in 1894. The conflict began in the town of Pullman, Illinois on May 11 when approximately 3,000 employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent...
of 1894. A national commission formed to investigate the causes of the strikes found that Pullman’s paternalism partly to blame and labelled it ‘un-American’.
However, government observers maintained that Pullman’s principles were accurate, in that he provided his employees with a quality of life otherwise unattainable to them, but recognised that his excessive paternalism was inappropriate for a large-scale corporate economy and thus caused the town’s downfall. Accordingly, government observers and social reformers alike saw the need for a balance between control and well-designed towns concluding that a model company town would only succeed if independent professionals, acting as a buffer between employers and employees, took a role in conception, planning, and management of these towns.
Thus the Pullman Strike did not kill the concept of a company town but rather initiated a new chapter in their existence. Over the next thirty years the old model of paternalism was abandoned in favour of new professionally designed company towns with architects, landscape architects, and planners translating “new concepts of industrial relations and social welfare into new physical forms”. This suited capitalists of the day who were obviously keen to avoid the experiences of Pullman. The first real example of this occurred at Indian Hill-North Village, Massachusetts in 1915.
Model company towns
During the late nineteenth century, model company towns materialised as enlightened industrialists recognised that many poor workers were living in appalling conditions. These industrialists wished to combat the unsanitary and congested conditions common to working class districts in order to create better living conditions for workers. Model company towns such as Port SunlightPort Sunlight
Port Sunlight is a model village, suburb and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Between 1894 and 1974 it formed part of Bebington urban district within the county of Cheshire...
(1888) and Bournville
Bournville
Bournville is a model village on the south side of Birmingham, England, best known for its connections with the Cadbury family and chocolate – including a dark chocolate bar branded "Bournville". It is also a ward within the council constituency of Selly Oak and home to the Bournville Centre...
(1895) were influential in regards to their building and planning innovation. The ideas generated from these model towns are regarded as having a significant influence on the Garden City movement
Garden city movement
The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts" , containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and...
.
The model company town is concerned with creating a productive and prosperous company. Enlightened industrialists believed this could be achieved by providing a healthier residential environment for their employees. Planning a model company town involved the fusion of new notions of house design and layout. The paternalism of the enlightened industrialist was exhibited in his desire to provide an environment for his employees that was aesthetically appealing and which included well-designed residences, parks, schools, libraries and meeting halls. The industrialist also wished to contribute to his workers’ wellbeing by providing social programs such as sporting events and functions. This however, highlights the power and immense control possessed by the company owner who could shape the lifestyle and activities of his employees to serve his own interests and those of the company.
The creation of model company towns was particularly evident in Britain during the latter half of the nineteenth century with the creation of Saltaire
Saltaire
Saltaire is a Victorian model village within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District, West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
, Bournville
Bournville
Bournville is a model village on the south side of Birmingham, England, best known for its connections with the Cadbury family and chocolate – including a dark chocolate bar branded "Bournville". It is also a ward within the council constituency of Selly Oak and home to the Bournville Centre...
, Port Sunlight
Port Sunlight
Port Sunlight is a model village, suburb and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Between 1894 and 1974 it formed part of Bebington urban district within the county of Cheshire...
, Creswell
Creswell
-Places:* In the United Kingdom:** Creswell, Derbyshire*** Creswell Crags*** Creswell Model Village** Creswell, Staffordshire* In the United States:** Creswell, Maryland** Creswell, North Carolina** Creswell, Oregon* In Australia:...
and New Earswick, and coincided with the housing reform movement which emphasised the improvement of housing for the working class. These model towns contrasted with the overcrowded conditions in British working class districts which were often characterised by congested housing, unsanitary conditions, poor provision of open space and facilities. Model company towns promoted the idea of orderly, planned town development as well as the notion of planning for the needs of the community in order to provide healthier living conditions.
Model company towns in Britain
Model company towns around the mid-nineteenth century such as Copley (1849) near Halifax, and Saltaire (1853) close to Bradford were characterised by improved dwellings for workers which contrasted with working-class housing in other industrial villages and cities. These model company towns prompted the creation of others such as Port Sunlight, Bourneville and Creswell within an environment of reform.Port Sunlight
Port Sunlight
Port Sunlight is a model village, suburb and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Between 1894 and 1974 it formed part of Bebington urban district within the county of Cheshire...
(1888) in Cheshire, was established by William Hesketh Lever (later Lord Leverhulme) of Lever Brothers – a soap and tallow manufacturer. The earlier layout of this model company town was planned to suit the undulating topography of the site. Port Sunlight catered for the Lever Brothers employees through the provision of improved housing (cottages of varying designs and materials) and gardens, as well as social and community facilities including an auditorium, school, tennis courts and bowling greens. Port Sunlight combined the use of formal and informal planning elements such as straight streets close to the town centre and curved streets in the residential areas. This combination of the formal and informal represented a new feature of British town planning.
Bournville
Bournville
Bournville is a model village on the south side of Birmingham, England, best known for its connections with the Cadbury family and chocolate – including a dark chocolate bar branded "Bournville". It is also a ward within the council constituency of Selly Oak and home to the Bournville Centre...
(1895) near Birmingham, was established by the Cadbury brothers, George and Richard. George and Richard Cadbury chose to transfer the Cadbury factory to this new site in order to provide their employees with improved living conditions and a country environment that they could enjoy - a far cry from the busy, smoky city centre of Birmingham. The firm provided education in the form of a compulsory academic course and workers were given the opportunity to complete commercial or technical training. Cadburys also encouraged their workers to get involved in the social life of Bournville through the provision of sports facilities, athletic and cultural clubs, as well as social events such as summer parties. George Cadbury
George Cadbury
George Cadbury was the third son of John Cadbury, a Quaker who founded Cadbury's cocoa and chocolate company.-Background:...
, a Quaker, preached Christian values such as respectability, thrift and sobriety and sought to unify the Bournville community through rituals such as gift giving between employer and employee. The firm also established work councils such as the Women’s Works Council and supported trade unions.
Bournville represented the union of industry and nature as the company town boasted the attractiveness of the countryside and low-density development characterised by well-built and visually appealing dwellings. Unlike Port Sunlight, Bournville catered for a mixed community where residences were not restricted to the workforce only. Bournville illustrated how, towards the end of the nineteenth century, low-density development was being emphasised along with the provision of open air, space and sunlight. Bournville’s gardens, parks, tree-lined streets, its sense of spaciousness and country setting enhanced its aesthetic appeal and demonstrated George Cadbury’s endeavour to provide workers with a healthy, beautiful and well-ventilated environment.
The Bolsover Company developed two exemplary mining communities in Derbyshire during the late nineteenth century, Bolsover
Bolsover
Bolsover is a town near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. It is 145 miles from London, 18 miles from Sheffield, 26 miles from Nottingham and 54 miles from Manchester. It is the main town in the Bolsover district.The civil parish for the town is called...
(1891) and Creswell
Creswell
-Places:* In the United Kingdom:** Creswell, Derbyshire*** Creswell Crags*** Creswell Model Village** Creswell, Staffordshire* In the United States:** Creswell, Maryland** Creswell, North Carolina** Creswell, Oregon* In Australia:...
(1896). The Bolsover Company aimed to provide improved living conditions for the miners and their families in these model industrial villages. The houses at Creswell were built in concentric circles, and within these circles was large open parkland and a bandstand. Not only did the Bolsover Company aim to provide better housing, but they also wished to improve workers’ moral fibre, believing that the provision of facilities and the promotion of workers’ welfare would discourage drunkenness, gambling and bad language. The Bolsover Company provided facilities deemed beneficial for employees at both villages including clubhouses, bowling greens, cooperative society stores, cricket pitches and schools. During the early years of these model industrial villages, the Bolsover Company organised various events intended to enhance community life such as flower shows, lectures, sporting events, concerts, teas and dances.
The decline of American company towns
By the 1920s the need for company towns had declined significantly due to increased national affluence. Despite income inequalities and a relatively low standard of living conditions amongst factory labourers, the prosperity of the 1920s saw workers’ material well-being improve significantly. A strong post-war American economy meant instalment buying was accessible to low-wage earners who could now purchase previously unattainable goods like automobiles and radios. Moreover, workers were no longer dependent on employers for healthcare and education.By the 1920s the widespread nature of the automobile meant workers no longer needed to live near their work places and now had access to more employment opportunities. A combination of the freedom that came with private transport and the mass communication of radio saw the isolation of company towns lessen and the social basis of the company town become less necessary.
Furthermore, the accessibility of the working class to private transport also marked a step of equality as they had previously only been accessible to the wealthy. As access to surrounding municipalities increased, residents of company towns gained access to an increasing amount of government-funded public resources such as schools, libraries, and parks. Accordingly, there was no longer a need for the amenities of company towns which, prior to welfare capitalism
Welfare capitalism
Welfare capitalism refers either to the combination of a capitalist economic system with a welfare state or, in the American context, to the practice of businesses providing welfare-like services to employees...
, had previously been unattainable to the working class.
This new found freedom saw a change in the mindset of workers who began to look on welfare capitalism as demeaning rather than an incentive. Accordingly, many employees began to request additional pay in lieu of welfare programs. This was well received by some employers as the idea of ‘laissez-faire’ individualism, which promoted entrepreneurial virtues of hard-work being rewarded rather than direct charity, began to shape new-age paternalism.
Modernisation and the increase in material well-being had also lessened the perceived need for paternalism and moral reform. Accordingly, the economic downturn of the early 1930s saw some businesses do away with employee welfare schemes to reduce costs. However, the Roosevelt Administration’s New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
dealt the final blow to end American company towns by raising minimum wages, encouraging industrial self-governance, and pushing for the owners of company towns to “consider the question of plans for eventual employee ownership of homes”. To a lesser extent the New Deal also reduced the need for employee housing by transforming housing finance to a lower-interest, lower-deposit system making home ownership more accessible to the working class.
See also
- List of company towns
- College townCollege townA college town or university town is a community which is dominated by its university population...
- Commission on Industrial RelationsCommission on Industrial RelationsThe Commission on Industrial Relations was a commission created by the U.S. Congress on August 23, 1912. The commission studied work conditions throughout the industrial United States between 1913 and 1915...
- Corporate republicCorporate RepublicA corporate republic is a theoretical form of government occasionally hypothesized in works of science fiction, though some historical nations such as medieval Florence might be said to have been governed as corporate republics...
- Ghost townGhost townA ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
- Industrial paternalism
- Mill townMill townA mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories .- United Kingdom:...
- MonotownMonotownA monotown is a town whose economy is dominated by a single industry or company. The term is especially often used in Russia, where the Soviet planned economy created several monotowns in supposedly rational locations, often in geographically inhospitable areas...
, a similar phenomenon in RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects... - Railway townRailway townA railway town is a settlement that originated or was greatly developed because of a railway station or junction at its site.In Victorian Britain, the spread of railways greatly affected the fate of many small towns...
Further reading
- Carlson, L. (2003). Company Towns of the Pacific Northwest, ISBN 0-295-98332-9 http://www.lindacarlson.com/historybook.html
- Cherry, G.E. (1979). The town planning movement and the late Victorian city. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 4, 306-319.
- Dellheim, C. (1987). The creation of company culture: Cadburys, 1861-1931. The American Historical Review, 92, 13-44.
- Garner, J.S. (1982). The model company town. Massachusetts: The University of Massachusetts Press.
- Garner, J.S. (1992). The company town: Architecture and society in the early industrial age. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.
- Gaskell, M. (1979). Model industrial villages in S. Yorkshire/N. Derbyshire and the early town planning movement. The Town Planning Review, 50, 437-458.
- Hebblethwaite, R. (1987). The municipal housing programme in Sheffield before 1914. Architectural History, 30, 143-179.
- Jackson, F. (1985). Sir Raymond Unwin: Architect, planner and visionary. London: A. Zwemmer Ltd.
- Parsons, K.C. (1985). Review of the model company town: Urban design through private enterprise in nineteenth-century New England. The New England Quarterly, 58, 639-643.