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How did the living conditions of factory workers compare to life back on the farm?

While working conditions were bad, living conditions for city dwellers of the nineteenth century were often even worse. In New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, factory pay was so low that large families had to live in very small tenement apartments with one or two rooms. These apartments, if they had water at all, did not have hot water. And they often didn't have any indoor plumbing.

Bandit's Roost, 1890, New York City
New York slum in the 1890s

Some workers didn't have a choice about where to live. Many large employers would create company towns and require the workers laboring in their factories to live in housing owned by the company. For example, the Pullman company, which manufactured cars for railroads, operated its own town just outside the city limits of Chicago in the 1880s and 1890s; six thousand workers and their families lived there.

The Greenstone Church (now Greenstone United Methodist Church) in Pullman, Chicago
Church in Pullman, Illinois, 1880s

There were cheaper housing options, but the Pullman company required its workers to live in the town it had built. In 1893, profits dropped, and worker wages dropped as well. The company wouldn't cut the rents paid by workers, however, and in 1894, a strike erupted. The only stores in company towns tended to be owned by the company as well, a situation that sometimes created a perfect circle of exploitation.

Do you have a clear sense of what living conditions were like for Americans employed in 19th century factories? Use the activity below to confirm or clarify your understanding.

The Pullman corporation required its employees to live in its _______.
coal mine

company town

machine shop

Company towns provided workers with housing that was often much more expensive than other options.
Company towns provided workers with housing that was often much more expensive than other options.
_______ workers often became injured on the job in the nineteenth century.
Angry

Arrogant

Untrained

Often, workers in the nineteenth century did not receive safety or other training that would have made their jobs safer—such as how to handle dynamite.
Often, workers in the nineteenth century did not receive safety or other training that would have made their jobs safer—such as how to handle dynamite.
In the nineteenth century, industrial workers earned just above the _______ line.
poverty

wealth

bottom

Workers' wages in the nineteenth century barely gave more than a subsistence existence.
Workers' wages in the nineteenth century barely gave more than a subsistence existence.
Workers were often not given training about how to use _______ tools and machines.
dangerous

old

inexpensive

Workers were often killed on work sites like the one in Krebs, OK, because they were not trained to use dangerous tools such as dynamite.
Workers were often killed on work sites like the one in Krebs, OK, because they were not trained to use dangerous tools such as dynamite.
In the nineteenth century, it was not uncommon for workers to labor _______ hours a day.
eight

twelve

twenty-four

Work days in the nineteenth century could be as long as twelve hours.
Work days in the nineteenth century could be as long as twelve hours.
Accidents happened frequently in nineteenth-century factories because of a lack of _______ regulations.

conduct

profitability

safety

Throughout most of the nineteenth century, government did not provide or enforce workplace safety regulations.
Throughout most of the nineteenth century, government did not provide or enforce workplace safety regulations.

Complete