Pullman Palace Car Company

Pullman's idea of a sleeping rail car was not new.  The most famous was from a French railroad company.  The "train imperial" was built to honor Napoleon III in 1857 with a dining car, sleeping car and an observation deck.  Eight year later, George Pullman introduced his own. The difference?  Pullman's wasn't for emperors or American royalty - it was for the ordinary citizen.

Pullman set out to prove that luxury was comfortable travel that appealed to all.  Like Henry Ford later, Pullman had a knack for stirring in the public something they didn't know they wanted, and then growing it into a demand.  He was the P.T. Barnum of the railroad world who wanted to dramatize how delightful it was to travel in a Pullman car.

Pullman called his company the Pullman Palace Car Company and he advertised it as a hotel on wheels.  Until the 1950s it remained an open design where travelers could move about easily and in comfort.  Smoking rooms, dining rooms and washrooms were all designed with the ability to become gathering places resembling a hotel.  Cars were divided into men and women cars, but Pullman's aim was to offer luxury for the price of a hotel room. 

Next time...The history of glass
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On December 9, 1854, The Charge of the Light Brigade is published. Alfred Lord Tennyson's classic was published in The Examiner to commemorate the courage of British soldiers during the Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War.