Monday, September 7, is Labor Day. While not a “how-the-government-works” style column, it’s a classic piece of American heritage we find worthy of digging into this week.
History and Origin
Labor Day has its roots within the zenith of the Industrial Revolution. Machinery was spreading, job markets were fundamentally changing, and workers’ rights and fair wages became one of the top political issues of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. As labor movements grew, certain trade unions would designate days to celebrate labor. The September holiday of Labor Day was first proposed in the early 1880s.
Interestingly, The New York Times in a 2020 article covered the debate over who actually founded the holiday. One family points to a patriarch in Matthew Maguire as the founder, while the other points to Peter J. McGuire as the true “father of Labor Day.”
That debate has ensued since 1894. Maguire was a machinist, while McGuire was a carpenter, but both were union leaders with Irish parents and both attended the first Labor Day parade in New York City in 1882.
The U.S. Department of Labor officially credits McGuire with the founding of the holiday, as he founded the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and was the co-founder of the American Federation of Labor’s predecessor.
Some evidence, however, suggests that the title belongs to Maguire, the secretary of the Central Labor Union (CLU) which organized the first Labor Day parade. His burial card includes a handwritten message, “This man founded Labor Day.”
McGuire’s family were guests at President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s (R-KS) White House for a stamp dedication ceremony to McGuire and the labor movement.
The Cincinnati Tribune found that one early anecdote about the holiday was that it originated with an assembly of the Knights of Labor in New York in September 1882. That’s where CLU Secretary Maguire is credited with calling for Labor Day to be recognized the first Monday of September.
For McGuire, a trip to Toronto where he witnessed a parade celebrating labor is said to have given him the inspiration. He put forward that proposal in spring 1882. In a proposal to the CLU, he called for a “general holiday for the laboring classes,” recommending that each celebration start with a street parade as a demonstration of labor’s solidarity, followed by a picnic with tickets acting as a fundraiser. He, like Maguire, suggested the first Monday in September, owing to regularly cooperative weather and its midpoint between Independence Day and Thanksgiving.
The popularity quickly spread. In 1887, Oregon became the first state to make Labor Day an official public holiday. That same year, New York became the fifth state to act. By 1894, thirty states were in recognition.
But it would take one of the largest and most significant labor demonstrations in U.S. history to get it on Congress’ radar: the Pullman Strike of 1894.
During the Panic of 1893, at the time the country’s worst economic crisis until the Great Depression, the American Railway Union (ARU) struck against the Pullman Company’s Chicago factory in the spring of 1894. The Panic made railroad companies purchase less passenger cars, many made by Pullman, which led the manufacturers to lay off workers and reduce wages – around 25%.
A large reason for the strike was that the town of Pullman, Illinois, was a “company town” – one where most of the stores and housing are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Workers in company towns often had little to no democratic powers. For Pullman workers and residents, they struggled against excessive utility rates, no democracy in Pullman, and the company’s refusal to let the workers buy and own houses.
The ARU would be founded in 1893 by Eugene V. Debs, who would become a five-time Socialist candidate for president (1900-1912, 1920) whose arrest in July 1894 intensified the strike. Since the Pullman workers hadn’t unionized, Debs signed them up. When that had no effect, Debs organized a massive boycott against all trains carrying Pullman cars. It would affect most rail lines west of Detroit. At its peak, it affected about 250,000 workers in 27 states, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
The strike is officially stated as having occurred from May 11 to July 20, 1894.
The strike interrupted mail and interstate commerce dramatically. President Grover Cleveland (D-NY) and his administration found that the strike was illegal, as it hindered federal services and interstate commerce. When the strikers ignored the order to disband and derailed a locomotive attached to a mail car, Cleveland sent in the National Guard to restore order. It was the first time in U.S. history that the federal government used a court injunction to break a strike backed by military force.
But that only made tensions worse. Strikers overturned more railcars and barricaded themselves against the military. About 6,000 people destroyed hundreds of railcars in the Chicago suburbs and burned buildings. Historical estimates vary, but National guardsmen fired upon and killed 12 to 30 people in Chicago, plus another estimated 40 in other states.
Eugene Debs was sentenced to six months in prison, after failing to negotiate the rehiring of the workers. Railroad companies gradually resumed business, and some strikers were rehired – although they had to pledge to not join a union again.
During the strikes, Congress passed a bill recognizing the first Monday in September as Labor Day. Cleveland signed it into law on June 28, 1894.
How It’s Celebrated
Most Americans take vacation around or on Labor Day weekend, as it’s considered the unofficial end of summer and the unofficial beginning of that year’s general election campaign.
Some states have taken legislative initiatives with the holiday serving as an anchor. In Virginia, the amusement park industry lobbied the State Legislature to require most school districts to begin their school years after Labor Day, giving families another weekend to visit the parks. The “Kings Dominion” law, named after one such park, was later repealed in 2019.
Michelle Zettergren of Labor Press documents some of the Labor Day traditions around the country.
Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have traditionally started their school years after Labor Day to support tourism. Michigan has a unique Labor Day tradition. Since 1958, the state has hosted the annual Mackinac Bridge Walk, where tens of thousands of people, usually led by the governor, walk the 5-mile bridge that connects the Upper Peninsula with the Lower Peninsula. It’s the only day of the year pedestrians are allowed on the bridge.
In Park City, Utah, it’s common for ski resort towns to honor their silver mining heritage with Miners Day. Since 1896, the mucking and drilling competition has seen participants attempt to use antique mining machinery and equipment.
In McCalla, Alabama, Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park features a 19th-century iron-making complex, where craftsmen can demonstrate their skills.
In Pioche, Nevada, another former mining community, the town sees its population quadruple during the weekend. Tournaments, trap shooting, a cake walk, and lawnmower races are just some of the fare featured at that fair.
How Suffolk Celebrates
One of the long-standing, end-of-summer traditions in Suffolk is the Shinnecock Indian Powwow. The Shinnecock’s reservation in the Town of Southampton plays host to one of the largest powwows in the country, with traditional dance competitions, drum contests, and Native American art, jewelry, food, and ceremonies.
Brentwood hosts its Feast of Mother Cabrini at their Suffolk Community College Campus. The multi-night Italian festival ends on Labor Day.
Fire Island, already known for its summer bashes, lets the summer season end with multi-night DJ events in places like Ocean Bay Park.
In the heart of Suffolk, the Greater Ronkonkoma Chamber of Commerce puts on their annual Labor Day street fair. Sunday, September 6, from 11:00a.m. to 6:00p.m., Hawkins Avenue – between Portion Road and Church Street – will play host to thousands in search of local food, live music, and all the offerings of Lake Ronkonkoma. The Messenger will be one of many booths there this weekend.
