# Company Towns {spun off of "A thread for Rudy Giuliani"} **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354 "2024-11-16T18:11:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/1 "2024-11-16T18:11:24Z")
My Google-fu is failing me at the moment, but I seem to vaguely recall reading about a company (the time period associated with this company is somewhere between 1940-1980, I’m thinking) that required its employees and their families to live in this “city” that the company had built, and the company paid them with a currency that could only be used inside that city. It wasn’t recognized anywhere outside of that city as a legitimate currency. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/2 "2024-11-16T18:14:32Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > and the company paid them with a currency that could only be used inside that city. It wasn’t recognized anywhere outside of that city as a legitimate currency. That’s known as a company town and was fairly common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. > **[Company town](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town)** > > A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets, and recreation facilities. > Some company towns were established to improve living conditions for workers, but many have been regarded as controlling and/or exploitative. Others were not planned, such as Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, United States, o... ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/3 "2024-11-16T18:25:13Z")
Ah. Thank you. I knew I wasn’t imagining it. I just wasn’t familiar with the actual term. Trying to google the description wasn’t helping me any. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/4 "2024-11-16T20:07:01Z")
You load 16 tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt St. Peter, don’t you call me 'cause I can’t go I owe my soul to the company store ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/5 "2024-11-16T20:13:34Z")
See also [Company Store](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_store). [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RRh0QiXyZSk/maxresdefault.jpg "Tennessee Ernie Ford - 16 Tons") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRh0QiXyZSk) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/6 "2024-11-16T20:14:30Z")
Redacted, Joey P and Peter Morris beat me too it. Press on. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/7 "2024-11-17T00:08:55Z")
And the pseudo-currency is “Company Scrip” > **[Company scrip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip)** > > Company scrip is scrip (a substitute for government-issued legal tender or currency) issued by a company to pay its employees. It can only be exchanged in company stores owned by the employers. In the United Kingdom, such truck systems have long been formally outlawed under the Truck Acts. In the United States, payment in scrip became illegal in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. > In the United States, mining and logging camps were typically created, owned and operated by a single comp... ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/8 "2024-11-17T03:42:55Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > That’s known as a company town and was fairly common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I live in a town adjacent to Vandergrift, PA. Way back when Vandergrift was established as a company town. There was a mill (steel?) and a neighborhood built around it. Working in the mill you got a salary, a home, stores. Pretty cool concept. Ties in with the world’s fair story. > **[History](https://www.vandergriftborough.com/history.html)** > >  Founded in 1895, Vandergrift was the first successful planned industrial town designed to be sold to its workers. George McMurtry, president of the Apollo Iron & Steel Co., Apollo, PA., needed to... ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/9 "2024-11-17T04:24:44Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Pretty cool concept You and I studied very different 19th and early 20th century company towns. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/10 "2024-11-17T08:19:50Z")
And there were the kind of company towns designed to provide good homes and social facilities for the workers - but with all sorts of rules to kee them sober and “respectable” - Saltaire, Bournville, Port Sunlight. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/11 "2024-11-17T13:25:32Z")
This turned into a hijack of the original thread. So thanks to a flag, I spun it off. In the future try Replying as a linked Topic: **If you are responding to something in a thread that is basically off-topic or likely to lead to a hijack, try this:** How to **Reply as a linked Topic** : Click Reply, in the upper left corner of the reply window is the reply type button, _looks like a curving arrow point to the right_. Choose **Reply as linked topic** and it starts a new thread. As an example, you can choose GD, IMHO or The Pit for it. That is actually the best method. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/12 "2024-11-17T14:45:47Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > Pretty cool concept > > You and I studied very different 19th and early 20th century company towns. And/or follow very different YouTube channels: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1rzFyBdKLvU/maxresdefault.jpg "Un-American and yet, totally American | Company Towns") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rzFyBdKLvU) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/13 "2024-11-17T14:58:09Z")
Some started out patronizingly benevolent. Some deliberately exploitative. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/14 "2024-11-17T16:53:59Z")
It is not exclusively megacorporations that issue company scrip. Sometimes non-company towns will circulate a local currency as an economic stimulus: > **[Are community currencies a better way to shop?](https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200427-how-community-currencies-help-keep-businesses-afloat)** > > Currencies like the Bristol Pound support local retailers and build a sense of community, proponents say – and now some are going digital. > **[In economic slump, town takes new tack: Printing its own money](https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2020/0709/In-economic-slump-town-takes-new-tack-Printing-its-own-money)** > > Tenino, Washington has revived a Great Depression-era strategy to help shore up the local economy during the pandemic – printing its own currency. Other towns across the country are taking notice of the town's unusual methods. > **[rec.barcelona - It begins in the neighborhood, it change the city.](https://rec.barcelona/en/home/)** > > The rec is Barcelona’s social currency, a type of social or local currency. Social currencies favour local businesses and the profits revert to the community. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/15 "2024-11-17T18:01:10Z")
There’s another type where one company is the major employer and the economy revolves around the company and its workers. The company doesn’t own lodgings or stores, but businesses and workers are dependent on them. Schenectady is an example of this: GE was the major employer and as they reduced workers, the city suffered. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/16 "2024-11-17T18:14:55Z")
And … in a Central New York bastion of liberalism: > **[Ithaca Hours](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca_Hours)** > > The Ithaca HOUR was a local currency used in Ithaca, New York, though it is now no longer in circulation. It was one of the longest-running local currency systems, and inspired other similar systems in Madison, Wisconsin; Santa Barbara, California; > Corvallis, Oregon; and a proposed system in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. One Ithaca HOUR was valued at US$10 and was generally recommended to be used as payment for one hour's work, although the rate is negotiable. > Ithaca HOURS were not backed by... ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/17 "2024-11-17T21:24:05Z")
College towns - towns where the major “industry” is a college, are a special case of this. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/18 "2024-11-17T21:40:20Z")
The town of Ajax, Ontario grew out of government housing for a WW2 munitions plant (the Defence Industries Limited Pickering Works). ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/19 "2024-11-17T21:51:48Z")
Kohler, Wisconsin. Unlike, say, Pullman in Chicago, the company allowed for home-ownership; but you couldn’t paint it just any color you wanted. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2024, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354/20 "2024-11-17T21:54:08Z")
Company towns were an invention of the companies that needed workers to show up for work. In the NW woods, the workers would get paid, get drunk, not show back up to work. I lived in a company sawmill town when I was young. They built houses, nice wooden sidwalks, and rented them to the mill workers for a nominal fee and the workers would bring their wives. The men would not be getting too drunk to go to work, they are going to work because their family was there. There usually was a small store, hence I owe my soul to the company store. The company had plenty of basically free wood to make homes and the entire town. And the idea of building houses for the workers, worked. They were all coming to work when they had a wife at home. No staying home hung over. An entire town, with a dining hall, dance hall for other events, perhaps a small school, etc. The town I grew up in no longer exists, not a single board, but it was a special time and place in my life. But here it is, Bradwood Oregon. Sawmill, deep water port right off the Columbia River. Train. [![](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTbRctoFhxNFxo0TmmKIHVzzPWj5XGaX4907w&s) ](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTbRctoFhxNFxo0TmmKIHVzzPWj5XGaX4907w&s) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/company-towns-spun-off-of-a-thread-for-rudy-giuliani/1010354.md?page=2)