Company Town Meaning

(idiomatic) A town, city, or other municipality in which a single large business has a controlling influence over the economy and, sometimes, over the societal structure and local government.

Example: 1917, Arthur B. Reeve, The Treasure-Train, ch. 5:
  The workmen lived farther along the line, in a sort of company town, which at present greatly resembled a Western mining-camp, though ultimately it was to be a bungalow town.
1946 May 29, Westbrook Pegler, "Fair Enough," Reading Eagle (USA), p. 4 (retrieved 13 July 2012)
  Now here we have a company town depicted by our authority in the UMW [United Mine Workers] as one of the worst imaginable company towns, where the employer ran the schools, the local administration of justice, and even the churches.
1994 Oct. 30, Penny Singer, "Bob Detmer, a Visionary Video Maker," New York Times (retrieved 13 July 2012):
  Back in the days when Poughkeepsie was a company town and the company was International Business Machines, it wasn't unusual for 18-year-olds in Poughkeepsie to go straight from high school to I.B.M.
2010 Feb. 10, Michael Schuman, "At Toyota's Home Base, Townspeople Are Worried," Time:
  The firm's sprawling factory complexes lie only a short distance from the town center, and, as in any company town, the paychecks of Toyota employees are the main source of support for its restaurants and shops.