Company Towns: Cause and Effect
During the late 1800's, the United States was experiencing rapid growth, industrialization, and urbanization. The county was shifting from an agrarian society to an urban society. People were leaving the arduous labor of the field for dirty, cramped unsafe factory jobs.
With the birth of the modern major American city came the need for infrastructure. We needed roads and rail lines to connect these new cities. In addition, we needed raw materials to build things and the power to run those things.
All across the country, mines, railroads, and manufacturing plants began popping up. The problem was some of these mines and plants were working with dangerous materials; and mines weren't always located close to major urban areas.
As a result, America saw the birth of something called the company town. In order to keep workers close, and keep them relatively satisfied, companies would build their workers housing and would build everything a worker would need, including stores to shop in, schools for their children, and houses of worship. Since mass transportation was in its infancy and the automobile had not yet been invented, workers needed to be close to their place of employment.
Eventually, these company towns would begin to turn into undesirable places to live rather than the utopian communities they were designed to be. Since there were no competing shops around, company executives could raise the prices of goods and services to suit their greedy desires. Often times the companies paid their workers in company credits they could only use at company stores, and their credits were not enough to pay for all their necessities, causing the workers to go deep into debt.
Another issue was the lack of public services and government oversight. These companies ran their company towns any way they saw fit.
Eventually, workers began to retaliate against their employers and demand better treatment. One such company town's mistreatment led to the first organized labor strike in the country.
The Pullman Company manufactured railcars of all kinds for the railroad industry. The Pullman company town was located on the south side of Chicago, Illinois. The company laid off workers and reduced wages while keeping rent and utilities at the older, higher rates. Unwilling to grant the workers representation in the company town government, the workers decided to join together and strike.
The strike led to violent clashes between the workers and management. This event would be the beginning of the American organized labor movement and the beginning of the end for company towns.
Company towns would begin to decline in the 1920's and 1930's due to the invention and availability of the automobile and the willingness of companies to allow people to begin buying things on credit and installment plans. Now, workers didn't have to live close to their place of employment.
Of the thousands of company towns that existed around the country, almost all of them would be abandoned. While some still exist as ghost towns (Popular Mechanics published an article of a handful of these old company towns you can still visit today here), many would be bulldozed or reclaimed by nature, their remnants a solemn reminder of a time when the American worker was treated like an easily replaceable cog in a machine.
It seems as if Brownsville's own Mr. Spacely is trying to revitalize the concept of the company town.
Elon Musk and his managers out at Boca Chica Beach are trying to create their very own private city. With the exception of a few holdouts, they've laid siege to Boca Chica Village and have taken over the majority of the houses there. There are also plans in the works to construct a large apartment complex to house the launch facility's employees.
Musk and the rest of the Spacely Sprockets crew is trying to incorporate the area and start up a town they've christened Starbase, Texas, complete with their own private security force. One of the members of the SpaceX Police Department detained investigators sent by the Cameron County District Attorney, a claim SpaceX disputes.
Will the state allow Musk and company to operate out at Boca Chica with little, to no, oversight and supervision? According to warnings issued by the DA they closed two public roads without permission.
Just how long will this company town exist at Boca Chica? Will it defy history and remain a part of the South Texas landscape, or will the Boca Chica and Brazos Island wetlands reclaim what was once theirs? Will the launchpads eventually crumble and be covered in native foliage and have wild animals patrolling an abandoned, decaying facility?
Will Musk decide another place that offers him more control is a more suitable home for his gateway to Mars? Don't forget the Mars pipe dream was not the launch facility's original purpose — we were supposed to be the home for SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets.
Musk just recently purchased two offshore oil rigs and is converting them into offshore launchpads. What's stopping him from saying, "Thank you, Brownsville and Cameron County, but we've perfected our launch vehicles and we're going to be launching them from the Gulf of Mexico, we don't need you anymore."
Musk has proven time and time again he does not stick to his original agreements and plans.
I have said it before, and I'll say it again. I hope I'm wrong. So many locals are supporting SpaceX and have hitched their wagons to Musk's rocket. I just hope that rocket ends up taking Brownsville to the stars and doesn't plunge us into the depths of the gulf.
I've seen too many companies promise us the moon only to leave us holding the bag. I legitimately hope I'm wrong about SpaceX. We certainly don't need Brownsville or Boca Chica to turn into a wasteland or a ghost town.
Comments
Post a Comment