The Resume

(March 3, 1831-October 19, 1897)
Born in Brocton, New York
Designed the Pullman sleeping car (1864)
Founded the Pullman Palace Car Company (1867)
Founded the company town of Pullman, Illinois (1880)

Why he might be annoying:

He began as a casket maker.
In Pullman, he banned independent newspapers, public speeches and town meetings.
'Harper's Weekly' wrote that Otto von Bismarck's power in Germany was 'utterly insignificant when compared with the ruling authority of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Pullman.'
When business slumped, he cut workers' wages while refusing to reduce rents and prices in Pullman, leading to a wildcat strike (May-June, 1894).
A national commission formed to study the causes of the strike declared the company town to be 'un-American.'
He remained so loathed by labor that he was buried beneath several tons of concrete to ensure that his body would not be exhumed and desecrated.

Why he might not be annoying:

He gained national attention when a Pullman sleeping car was used to bring Lincoln's body from Washington to Springfield, Illinois.
His sleeping cars were described as 'luxury for the middle class.'
Because he preferred ex-slave as Pullman porters, his company was the single largest employer of black Americans after the Civil War.
The town of Pullman did have its upside: at a time when most workers lived in run-down tenements next to their factories, Pullman provided comfortable houses with amenities such as indoor plumbing.

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• A City is Named in My Honor
• Buddy! Dude! Man! Guy!
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 36]
• I Did Not Graduate High School [N-S]
• I’m Buried at Graceland Cemetery [Chicago]
• In Town for The World's Fair at the Columbian Exposition [1893-Chicago]
• Inventors
• Look at Me, My Picture Is Art
• My Name, My Company
• Profiles 31251-31500 (Ranked: 31303)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 128 Votes: 50.78% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 18 Votes: 55.56% Annoying