Abstract

"Networking Chicago in the Gilded Age: Albert Benton Pullman Makes (and Unmakes) His Connections"

Simon Cordery, Iowa State University (scordery@iastate.edu)

Networking implies connectedness and cooperation—but not necessarily success. Indeed, the broad business and social networks of Gilded Age financier and industrialist Albert Benton Pullman fueled an array of bad investments. Pullman used his famous surname and gregarious personality to gather and deploy connections to enter banking, electricity, insurance, manufacturing, and transportation. Elder brother of introverted railroad magnate George Mortimer Pullman, Albert adroitly organized and affably hosted Pullman’s Palace Car Company excursion trains. These gave him access to nationally known figures on whom he leaned for advice, ideas, and access. He even launched a fraudulent land scheme with contacts made on these trips. As he and wife Emily grew into Chicago society, his membership in social clubs and Masonic organizations expanded his reach.

In addition to building networks, however, Albert Pullman had an unfortunate propensity for destroying them. His financial instincts often proved disastrous and he made some calamitous investments. Pullman’s life and legacy suggest a very modern parallel: nineteenth century entrepreneurs were only as good as the decisions they made and the luck they enjoyed in a volatile marketplace. A combination of mistakes and poor timing reveals how contingency, chaos, and uncertainty could disrupt network building. Cooperating with Albert Pullman did not necessarily guarantee wealth, as his collaborators sometimes learned to their cost.

Building on works by Pamela Laird (2006), Balleisen (2017), and Ferguson (2018), this presentation will use archival and other contemporary sources to offer a case study of one entrepreneur’s extensive complex of business connections. Albert Pullman’s career will thus illustrate the variegated processes of network building and demolition