idea

Company towns were towns entirely organized around a single company. All its inhabitants were employees of the company. Most of the time the company controlled all the economy, including stores and such.

They sometimes emitted their own currency (company scrips), which allowed them to control the entire economy, and virtually decrease salaries.

hey also had security forces to prevent strikes, and sometimes even had control of local legislation.

Most were renting to their employees, and creating such an economy that escaping the company was impossible.

While some initiatives started as benevolent (eg paternalism), they were primarily ways of maximizing employee exploitation. They are example of capitalism going full circle ; i.e. Being so extreme that, through monopoly, state control and autarcic autonomy, it is actively against capitalism.

Tech campuses are modern examples of company towns with a white collar twist.

Private space exploration is an example of future company towns.

references

Knowing better / company towns

Another example is [Britannia Beach (Mount Sheer)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Beach. All people living there where directly leaving from the mining business, and were isolated until the road from Vancouver to Squamish was built in 1955.