Company-Sponsored Schooling

Beginning in the early nineteenth century and ending only after World War II, American companies frequently engaged in industrial welfare plans that included extraordinary investments in company-sponsored education. Industrial towns, with company houses, churches, recreation, and medical care, dotted the American landscape. Still, the most expensive and significant welfare programs involved company schools, which made a significant contribution to the history of education in the United States. They also helped provide a relatively smooth transition from an agrarian past to an industrial future. This entry recounts their history and assesses their impact.