Company towns in America, 1880 to 1930

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, Social Science, Teaching American History, 2006Between 1880 and 1937, immigrants and minorities found new opportunity in company towns across the United States. In return, company town owners gained cheap labor.\ud As these towns arose, so did many characteristics prevail in company towns: paternalism, ethnic diversity, resource extraction, labor opportunity, and technology. Each has been explored by historians, and in so doing, many historians have been accused of romanticizing about town life, town owners, community solidarity while other historians criticized town owners for worker exploitation, unsafe working conditions and poor quality housing and rampant paternalism.\ud This historiography examines the many viewpoints of historians who focused on several important topics related to the company town: the reasons for the creation of company towns; the physical environment and the residents of such towns, the way such towns were managed; the benefits and success of company towns; and the factors that contributed to the demise of company towns