INNOVATING TRAVEL, TRANSFORMING ACCESS TO EDUCATION

The Founder

George Mortimer Pullman (1831-1897) left an extraordinary mark on Chicago and the nation as an engineer, industrialist, innovator, and philanthropist. He is best known for developing the sleeping car and as the founder of the Pullman Palace Car Company, which transformed cross-continental rail travel into a comfortable and luxurious experience. 

Mr. Pullman also built the Town of Pullman located on what today is Chicago’s far south side near Lake Calumet. The former Pullman Palace Car Company factory site became the Pullman National Historic Park in 2015 in recognition of its significant impact on American history as one of the first planned industrial towns in the United States, its impact on the Labor Movement, and as the nation’s largest single employer of African Americans after the American Civil War.

Free School

Upon his death in 1897, George Pullman bequeathed $1.2 million (equivalent to around $40 million in 2024) to establish the Pullman Free School of Manual Training, a free vocational high school for the children of Pullman Company employees and the residents of the Pullman and Roseland communities. Pullman hoped that this bequest would carry forward his desire for company employees and their children to have the opportunity for upward mobility by investing in their education.

When the Pullman Free School of Manual Training opened its doors in 1915, the girls took secretarial courses and home economics, and the boys attended shop and mechanical arts classes. While girls taking secretarial classes has long been a relic of the past, it was cutting-edge in 1915, as most secretaries at the time were men. 

By 1949, after enduring two World Wars and the Great Depression, the school’s Board of Trustees made the difficult decision to close the Pullman Free School of Manual Training due to rising costs and declining enrollment. Today, the original school building remains part of the Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy campus.

Upon closing the school, its Board of Trustees petitioned the Circuit Court of Cook County to convert the remaining proceeds from the original bequest for the establishment of the George M. Pullman Educational Foundation to administer funds for college scholarships, counseling, and guidance to students in Cook County, Illinois, thus furthering Mr. Pullman’s legacy of advancing generational wealth and prosperity through access to formal education. Florence Lowden Miller, George Pullman’s granddaughter, was elected its first President.

The Foundation Forms

In 1950, the newly formed George M. Pullman Educational Foundation awarded its first scholarships totaling $20,000 to 60 students from Chicago’s Pullman/Roseland communities. At the time, the average annual tuition, room, and board cost at a public university was approximately $500. These scholarships opened the door to opportunity for many who would have been excluded from the possibilities that a college degree offers. The Pullman Educational Foundation was recognized nationally early on as a model private scholarship program for its merit and need-based selection standards. 

In 1978, after 50 years of serving on the boards of the Pullman Free School of Manual Training and the George M Pullman Educational Foundation, Florence Lowden Miller resigned as President of the Board of Trustees. Her son and George Pullman’s great-grandson, Phillip Lowden Miller, was elected her successor. Upon Mr. Miller’s passing in 2009, Barbara (“Bonnie”) Miller, his wife of 18 years, became the Foundation’s 3rd Board President. Mrs. Miller Kaufman continues to serve in this capacity today and is joined by other descendants of George M. Pullman to carry out the Foundation’s mission.

An Enduring Legacy

For 75 years and counting, the George M. Pullman Educational Foundation has carried forth an enduring legacy of advancing access to higher education, creating and incorporating best practices in scholarship selection and support, and celebrating high achievement and success rates among its scholars and alums.

Nearly 12,000 individuals have received Pullman Scholarships – many of them the first in their families to attend college. Scholars from every decade since 1950 have gone on to build (and continue to build) economic stability and strength that is proving transformational for families and communities.