Comments on: Labor Day

By: Peggy Hartzell

Peggy Hartzell — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 22:39:46 +0000

There’s another Phila. early Labor day connection that I just learned about last year. I live near St. Peter’s Village in Chester County where the stone cutters went on strike around the first Labor Day . The General Meade Statue dedication was scheduled for October. They were cutting and polishing the stone for the base. Decided it would be a good time to go on strike. There were also 300 African American workers from Richmond VA working in the quarries at that time Think they tried to bring workers in from Phila.

By: Falvey Memorial Library: Villanova University :: Dig Deeper: How Did Labor Day Begin and Evolve? |

Mon, 07 Sep 2015 10:00:52 +0000

[…] “Labor Day.” Scott Hearn. The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. […]

By: Sean Lynch

Sean Lynch — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 21:08:58 +0000

Great writing and research. Really thorough but concise at the same time. It’s a shame that the holiday has gotten away from it’s roots, but what do you expect.

By: Bob Skiba

Bob Skiba — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 15:42:56 +0000

Thanks, Scott! Labor Day has definitely gotten away from its union oriented labor roots. I’d bet few Philadelphians discuss labor conditions or workers’ rights as they fire up their grills on Monday. Philadelphia seems to have jumped on the bandwagon—right after New York and Boston—in 1887, when the Knights of Labor designated September 5th as “Labor Day.” Local Knights of Labor District Assemblies held picnics all over the city and sponsored excursions a full seven years before the 1894 Act of Congress.