George Mortimer Pullman was the president and chief designer of Pullman Palace Carriage Works of Illinois.

In 1863, his company produced the Pioneer train car. The Pioneer was oversized and overly luxurious. It was too tall to pass under bridges and was put aside as a failed experiment.

In 1865, however, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and each state offered its finest railway cars for his funeral train. The Pioneer was included, and praised by dignitaries. The publicity helped make Pullman a rich man.

The name Pullman at first was applied only to train cars made by the Pullman company, but it was soon associated with any luxuriously fitted railway car. For a time, the very rich had their own personal Pullman cars, a sign of luxury much like a personal Learjet is today.

Pullman himself was reputed to be a ruthless businessman. One of the things he required of his employees was that they relocate to a company town called Pullman.

There is also a town in Washington State named for Pullman. The citizens of the town named it in his honor in hopes that he would pay for libraries and other gifts. When they invited him to the naming ceremonies, Pullman sent a thank you note and a check for $50, the sum total of his gifts to the town.