Company Town Intro
This vocal.media blog of mine is related to history and stories about small human settlements or towns, allowing you to see the history & function of small settlements people do not think about when they focus on larger countries or organizations. One of the types of smaller townships or settlements with an interesting history that not a lot of people talk about is the company town & how this particular form of settlement came to be a part of mankind's history. So, what is a company town? According the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a company town is a "community that is dependent on one firm for all or most of the necessary services or functions of town life (such as employment, housing, and stores)". In such a community, almost all of the stores & housing and sometimes utilities are owned by one company and said company is the main source of employment for the town. As stated by the Canadian Encyclopedia, there were plenty of corporate towns with high ideals that try to actually make life better for their residents without simply trying to abuse workers. That being said, many if not most company towns have been - and still are- regarded as controlling and/or exploitative. Some company towns are more or less created in an unplanned manner and can easily collapse due to various issues, but I am getting head of myself. I will be writing plenty of stories on this blog in the future about company towns and similar small corporate settlements, but this will be a general overview that people who know nothing about company towns can refer to when I talk about these types of towns. That way, I do not have to explain what a company town is every single time I mention one in my writings.
