History of Labor Day

August 22, 2014 Interesting Stuff

In the United States, we celebrate Labor Day… a holiday which signals the end of the summer and millions get a day off of work and school. But have you ever wondered why we have a holiday called “Labor Day”?

It all started on Chicago’s South Side in a small industrial town called Pullman.

Founded in 1880, this 300-acre community was the utopian vision of railroad tycoon George Pullman. It was there in America’s first planned company town that rail travel changed forever with the advent of the luxurious Pullman Palace Car.

For years, factory workers living in modest row houses assembled the iconic sleepers, while thousands of uniformed African American porters staffed cars that operated across the country. Slowly, though, the cracks began to show.

As the financial depression of the 1890s slowed production, George Pullman laid off hundreds of workers, reducing wages without reducing rent in company-owned housing. Across America, workers refused to service Pullman cars, disobeying a federal order and bringing rail traffic to a grinding halt. Violence erupted, and 12,000 Federal troops were deployed to restore order. Days later, President Grover Cleveland signed a new holiday into law to appease angry workers on the heels of the failed strike — Labor Day.