Today in Wheeling History: August 28—Wheeling’s first Labor Day celebration marks the city’s growing organized labor movement and civic pride (1886).
On Saturday, August 28, 1886, Wheeling held its first Labor Day celebration, organized by the Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly. The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, reporting two days later on Monday, August 30, called it "the most imposing display of the kind...ever witnessed in the city." Over 3,000 marchers assembled in three divisions: the first made up of Knights of Labor assemblies under Marshal Edward Robertson, the second combining trades unions like the Typographical Union, Bricklayers, and Carpenters under Marshal A. H. Britt, and the third composed entirely of local and visiting glassworkers under Marshal Patrick McGrannahan. The procession wound through downtown streets before crossing the bridge to the State Fair Grounds, where an estimated 12,000 people gathered for an afternoon picnic featuring a baseball game between Steubenville and Wheeling (won by the visitors, 10–9), a horse race won by George Stamm's "Roan Lucy," music, and dancing. The event predates the federal Labor Day holiday, which Congress established in 1894, by eight years. The Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly, which organized the march, remained active in Wheeling labor and civic affairs for decades under later president Valentine Reuther, a German immigrant and dedicated socialist. His sons Walter, Roy, and Victor Reuther, all born in Wheeling, would go on to found and lead the United Auto Workers, carrying the family's labor tradition into national prominence.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library - Library Closed Labor Day - Wheeling's First Labor Day (https://tinyurl.com/mv2vbpes), WTOV9 – "Wheeling's Labor Day legacy" (https://tinyurl.com/37m3wbu4), U.S. Department of Labor – "History of Labor Day" (https://tinyurl.com/3j4ndp9a), Wheeling Daily Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/mv2vbpes), Wheeling Daily Intelligencer - "A Great Display: The Big Labor Demonstration" (https://tinyurl.com/3wwkmd5f), Wikipedia - Labor Day (https://tinyurl.com/56n2knys), Ohio County Public Library - 1886: Wheeling’s First Labor (https://tinyurl.com/yc3f8mfa)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Wayne State University, Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, Find a Grave
On Saturday, August 28, 1886, Wheeling held its first Labor Day celebration, organized by the Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly. The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, reporting two days later on Monday, August 30, called it "the most imposing display of the kind...ever witnessed in the city." Over 3,000 marchers assembled in three divisions: the first made up of Knights of Labor assemblies under Marshal Edward Robertson, the second combining trades unions like the Typographical Union, Bricklayers, and Carpenters under Marshal A. H. Britt, and the third composed entirely of local and visiting glassworkers under Marshal Patrick McGrannahan. The procession wound through downtown streets before crossing the bridge to the State Fair Grounds, where an estimated 12,000 people gathered for an afternoon picnic featuring a baseball game between Steubenville and Wheeling (won by the visitors, 10–9), a horse race won by George Stamm's "Roan Lucy," music, and dancing. The event predates the federal Labor Day holiday, which Congress established in 1894, by eight years. The Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly, which organized the march, remained active in Wheeling labor and civic affairs for decades under later president Valentine Reuther, a German immigrant and dedicated socialist. His sons Walter, Roy, and Victor Reuther, all born in Wheeling, would go on to found and lead the United Auto Workers, carrying the family's labor tradition into national prominence.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library - Library Closed Labor Day - Wheeling's First Labor Day (https://tinyurl.com/mv2vbpes), WTOV9 – "Wheeling's Labor Day legacy" (https://tinyurl.com/37m3wbu4), U.S. Department of Labor – "History of Labor Day" (https://tinyurl.com/3j4ndp9a), Wheeling Daily Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/mv2vbpes), Wheeling Daily Intelligencer - "A Great Display: The Big Labor Demonstration" (https://tinyurl.com/3wwkmd5f), Wikipedia - Labor Day (https://tinyurl.com/56n2knys), Ohio County Public Library - 1886: Wheeling’s First Labor (https://tinyurl.com/yc3f8mfa)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Wayne State University, Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, Find a Grave
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