American towns are not always the product of slow growth and committee meetings. Sometimes a single high-roller sketched a dream, signed the checks, and willed a place into existence.
The results range from model worker utopias with strict curfews to fantasy neighborhoods that look like they were storyboarded on a movie lot. Keep reading and you will meet places where one person’s taste shaped the streets, the rules, and even the color of rooftops, plus a few audacious experiments that fizzled in spectacular fashion.
1. Pullman, Illinois
Rules ruled here, and you can still feel the order in the bricks. The 1880s plan unfolded like a brochure for efficiency, with the grand Hotel Florence, the factory, and rows of tidy residences set on wide boulevards.
George Pullman wanted harmony through design, so he controlled housing, landscaping, even porches that matched…