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LOOKING BACK A newsletter of the Michigan Moving Labor History Society Spring/SummerForward 2015 • mlhs.wayne.edu Public Transportation Then and Now: The Great Streetcar Strike of 1891 By JOHN RUMMEL Robert Ingalls photo: M-1 Reuther Library. P. Walter photos: Streetcar ew streetcars are coming to Detroit. As Detroit constructs Nthe M-1 Rail along Woodward Ave., a look back at the groundbreaking trolley strike of 1891 reveals how pub- lic transportation, or the lack of it, has shaped the history of the city. Just as today, Detroiters in the last decade of the 19th Century needed pub- lic transportation to work and move about the city. But disgust with the Detroit City Railway Company, the private streetcar monopoly that ran the trolley system, was so great it inspired a united rebellion from a wide cross-section of the city’s An early horse- working class and all who drawn streetcar, and a group of relied on the system. Detroit Steve Babson in his streetcar must-read book Working workers Detroit, reported that around the male trolley workers aver- turn of the 19th Century. aged a measly 18 cents an Far left, building hour for a 12-hour work the new M-1 light- day while women workers rail streetcar line that suffered the indignity and will open in Detroit in 2016. discrimination of being paid only 9 cents. Worse still, to cover treetcar workers formed an Employees strikebreakers. A cheering crowd of 5,000 both the morning and evening rush hours, SAssociation and began to fight back men, women, and children rolled a street- workers were often forced to stay at the by pushing for a 10-hour day. The firing car into the Detroit River. job site for 18 hours — but those six addi- of 12 organizers in April of 1891 was the Thousands of Detroit workers from tional hours were unpaid. catalyst that provoked the strike. shoe, radiator, and stove factories aban- City police broke up picket lines and doned their jobs to show solidarity iders too had their gripes. Fares of five escorted strikebreakers into the car barns. with the strikers. Ironworkers leaving Rcents for each ride were exceedingly However as the company had alienated their shift ripped up tracks in front of high. While other cities had modernized both its workers and customers, sym- their shop. Even downtown businesses to electric trolleys, the company contin- pathy for the strikers was widespread donated to the strike fund. ued to use horse-drawn carriages. Riders and quickly grew. By the second day By Friday, the fourth day of the strike, endured the foul smell of straw, horse of the strike, huge crowds gathered at the trades council made plans for a mass manure, and fumes from gas fired heaters. intersections to block trolleys driven by Continued on page 2 LOOKING BACK Moving Forward SPRIng/Sung-SuMMeR 2015 Great Streetcar Strike to win complete public control. In 1897 Continued from page 1 he was elected the Republican governor and championed public ownership of rally on Saturday to unite all the work- utilities, higher taxes for big business, ers who had gone out. and regulation of private capital. As Company officials pleaded with Vice President Joe Biden enjoys say- Mayor Hazen Pingree to call in the state ing, the current crop of Republicans are militia. Pingree, who had long railed “not your father’s Republican Party.” against the high fares and poor service of the private trolley company, refused hat’s happening with trolley ser- and the company capitulated to the vice today? The M-1 rail service W Barbara Ingalls Photo: strikers’ demands. The mayor became under construction on Woodward Ave. known as a “friend of the workingman.” will be the first trolley service in Detroit It was quite a conversion for this for- since 1956, running 3.3 miles along mer successful shoe manufacturer who, Woodward Ave from West Grand Blvd. as Babson writes, had come to believe south to Congress St. Will it help solve “the greatest threat to social peace was the city’s and region’s public transpor- the greed and callousness of private tation deficiencies? Hazen Pingree looks over Woodward Ave. from Grand Circus Park in Detroit. corporations, not unions.” Fred Westbrook, president of Amal- The 12 organizers were rehired and Thousands of Detroiters made donations gamated Transit Union Local 26 (the to help build this statue of the “Idol of their union recognized as the bargain- successor to the original trolley local) the People.” ing agent. Fares were lowered to 3 whose union will represent the new cents and electric cars were phased in conductors, has his doubts. over the next several years. Westbrook says the trolley line is The greatest threat to more of an “economic development ingree championed the public own- piece” to serve the new restaurants and social peace was the greed ership of the trolleys as the only way P hockey arena being built rather then a to improve service but it took until 1922 “public transportation service piece.” and callousness of private He notes that wait times for buses corporations, not unions. in the city have increased from 3 to 12 minutes during peak hours and 20 — Attributed to Mayor Pingree minutes during non-peak. The system has seen huge cuts, from 800 drivers in 2010 to 430 now. Westbrook said ference for Detroit and the region. “One Mayor Duggan has promised to add day I hope I’m here to see it,” he said. LOOKING BACK 100 by summer. MOVING FORWARD Westbrook had hoped the trolley line For further information, see Working Spring/Summer 2015 would have gone north to Pontiac, a Detroit by Steve Babson (Wayne State Published by the route that would have made a real dif- University Press, pages 14-15). Michigan Labor History Society c/o Walter P. Reuther Library 5401 Cass, Detroit MI 48202 Telephone: 313-577-4003 The Streetcar Driver MLHS.wayne.edu Who Dreamed of a Better Future www.facebook.com/ In 1901, ten years after the successful streetcar workers’ strike in Detroit, MichiganLaborHistorySociety Malcolm McLeod, president of the streetcar-drivers union, wrote a message to Co-Chairs: put into a time capsule that was opened a hundred years later, in 2001, during the Rick Blocker, President, celebration of Detroit’s tri-centennial. Metro Detroit AFL-CIO “All skilled labor in Detroit is organized into trade unions,” he wrote. “And Rory gamble, Director, UAW Region 1-A through the efforts of these unions, we have bettered our conditions, reduced the Chuck Hall, Director, UAW Region 1 hours of labor, and increased wages so that we now can find time to educate our- Secretary: Alberta Asmar selves and our children and take the place in society which has been denied them.” Treasurer: David elsila In his letter, McLeod described how during his lifetime he had seen streetcars Board members: John Dick, pulled by horses replace by ones powered by electricity, and he told of his dreams David Ivers, Mike Kerwin, Ruby newbold for the future: “It is my earnest hope that the union movement will continue to Editor: David elsila, National Writers Union, grow and prosper and that class society will be wiped out of existence in this new UAW Local 1981, member century, and that we will all stand on the same plane.” Design: Barbara Barefield Barefield Design Works 2 At the Mackinac Bridge: A Monument to the ‘Men of Iron’ By JOHN DICK ne of the most iconic images of our great Ostate of Michigan is the Mackinac Bridge. Spanning five miles between the Lower Peninsula and the Upper Pen- insula, the “Mighty Mac” was one of the spectacular engineer- ing feats of its time. Started in 1954 and opened to traffic on November 1, 1957, this incred- ible suspension sensation not only connected our two grand land masses, but became an his- torical testament to the power of A plaque and statue commemorate the union labor. union workers who built the Mackinac The Village of Mackinaw City Bridge, five of whom lost their lives. has taken on the task to honor the workers who created the Macki- Canada. Engraved bricks are embedded nac Bridge. The Walk of Iron, the in the sidewalks adjacent to the monu- Ironworkers Walk of Fame, had Jackie Dick Photos: ment area. To date, close to 200 bricks its groundbreaking in August, have been planted at the site and those 2008. The purpose of this tribute names have been inducted into the “Iron- is to honor and commemorate the workers Walk of Fame.” legends and stories of Ironwork- The next phase of the project is the ers and Mackinac bridgemen construction of a 25-foot globe with from all over North America who spokes and three ironworker characters, helped create this mighty masterpiece. he first phase, unveiled in August, two men and one woman. These iron- Located on North Huron Avenue, and T2010, is that of an ironworker throw- workers will be seven feet tall and con- shadowed by the hulking concrete and ing a rivet. This figure was made out of structed out of ironworker tools and com- iron of the Mighty Mac, this monument is over 3,000 ironworker tools donated by ponents. The theme of this piece is “We being built in phases. ironworkers from across the U.S. and Built the World.” Five workers died while building the Mackinac Bridge, and many more were LABOR HISTORY IS OUR HISTORY injured. While celebrating the success Join the Michigan Labor History Society and help take our story to schools, community of building this wonder of the modern groups and unions.

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