George Pullman
Entrepreneur
Enterprising engineer who took his earnings from raising Chicago's buildings and used them to make a luxury sleeping car.
He made his early fortune by raising Chicago buildings to street level and above the sewer pipes.
He set up a company town next to his factory, several miles outside Chicago, to keep workers content and productive.
His father abandoned farming for the more lucrative career of carpentry. His uncle owned a store that employed Pullman at one time.
He made sure that President Abraham Lincoln's body was returned to Chicago by a Pullman car.