Albert Pullman, The Forgotten Brother

Albert Benton Pullman, Forgotten Brother and Everyday Entrepreneur

Albert Pullman (1828 to 1883) is an unsung but critical part of the Pullman story. His curious career began at the side of his younger brother George as they built a building-lifting business. Albert, creative and outgoing, helped design and market the first Pullman Palace cars. But his entrepreneurial failures embarrassed George, who eventually fired Albert and erased him from the company history.

Simon Cordery is the author of Gilded Age Entrepreneur: The Curious Life of American Financier and Railroader Albert Benton Pullman, published in September by Cornell University Press. His three previous books include the award-winning The Iron Road in the Prairie State: The Story of Illinois Railroading from Indiana University Press. He is chair of the History Department at Iowa State University and serves on the Rail Industry Advisory Group of the National Railroad Hall of Fame project in Galesburg, Illinois.