Morewood Massacre of 1891

The 19th century saw the rise of labor unions with workers demanding better pay and rights. Strikes could often turn into violent riots or struggles against employers as seen in the Morewood Massacre of 1891. In 1891, the United Mine Workers Association called for a strike at the local coke works owned by Henry Clay Frick. The men demanded better wages and shorter hours. In March 1891, roughly 1,000 miners rioted and vandalized the Morewood Company Town. The mob later marched to the gates of the Morewood Works where Captain Loar, an army veteran, and 12 deputies were waiting. Loar and his men opened fire on the crowd, killing 9 men and injuring more. Several arrests on both sides were made, but Loar and the deputies were eventually acquitted. The Morewood Massacre is a lesser known bloody example of how violent and militant strikes could become in the 19th and 20th centuries. Despite the violence that ensued here, more was to come 1 year at the Homestead Mill, which was also managed by Frick. In 2000 a historical marker was erected on Morewood Street(PA Route 981), in Westmoreland County by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Mount Pleasant is one of the oldest towns in Southwestern Pennsylvania. After the French and Indian War (1755-1764) fought between Britain, France, and native American allies, Europeans were permitted to settle further west. When the American Revolution ended over twenty years later, many veterans took advantage of the amount of traffic passing through Mount Pleasant. They built taverns, inns, and Blacksmith’s shops to accommodate any weary travelers that were passing through. Mount pleasant eventually became a rich settlement boasting vast farmland and it turned a great deal of grain produced on the frontier into whiskey. It was in Mount Pleasant nearly a century later where wealthy industrialist Henry Clay Frick would consolidate his hold on the coke industry and become a billionaire by the age of 30.

The late 19th century was a time of vast industrialization for the United States as a whole. Pennsylvania especially was known for its abundant reserves of coal, coke, and steel mills. Coke, which is a hard, gray fuel source, was produced by burning coal in what was known as a coke oven. It was mainly used in the smelting of iron ore but also saw use as a fuel source in things such as stoves and forges. Since Pennsylvania was a hotbed for steel production back then and iron was required to make steel, it makes sense that coke production was such a huge business at the time. The thousands of immigrants entering America from Eastern Europe during the 1870’s provided wealthy industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick with an abundant source of cheap labor to man their coal mines and coke ovens. Of course, such large amounts of workers toiling away in dangerous conditions earning low pay led to unionization and radical pushes for better working conditions and pay. 

Unionization and miners going on strike was not a new phenomenon by the 1890’s. Starting in the 1840’s miners joined unions and started to go on strike against their employers for better working conditions. What makes the strikes of the late 19th century special is how militant and organized miners had become in the face of huge corporations like Carnegie’s that were armed with billions of dollars and armies of Pinkerton Guards. Pinkerton Guards were members of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, private security corporation that became well-known for being hired in strike breaking and anti-union jobs in the late 19th century. Local sheriffs and deputies were also used to help quell strikes when they got too violent or out of hand just like they were in the Morewood Massacre, In the years leading up to the Morewood Massacre of 1891, Pennsylvania miners staged roughly 800 strikes to maintain or increase their pay rates between 1881 and 1886. 

One of the largest strikes to take place in Southwestern Pennsylvania’s coke region occurred in 1887 alongside the rising prices of coke. Since coke production was also rising significantly, miners demanded a 20% pay raise. The Knights of Labor and the National Federation of Miners and Mine Laborers represented the workers. When Henry Clay Frick and coke operators offered only a 5% pay increase, around 12,000 miners in the coke region went on strike for a 12.5% pay raise. Frick was known for being a fierce and stubborn negotiator when it came to dealing with unions, so he hired a contingent of Pinkerton Guards to take care of the strike. He feared that giving into the demands of the strike would make him appear weak. Before violence could erupt, Andrew Carnegie ordered Frick to give the miners their pay raise. This victory for the union may have been what gave them the confidence to go on strike again in 1891 in the event that would come to be known as the Morewood Massacre. 

In 1890, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) drafted new demands for coke operators. The demands submitted to the operators included; weighing of the coal at the tipples, an eight hour work day, extra pay for working in a wet place, for working with another man, or for narrow work, approximately a 10% raise for most miners, a limit on house rent, a mandatory 3 day notice for strikes/lockouts/quitting or firing a man, and that "none but union men shall be employed and non-union men shall be discontinued in service" as soon as their places can be filled. Unfortunately for the workers, there was coke depression in 1890, and roughly 20% of Frick’s coke operations were shut down due to a lack of demand for coke. Frick and the miners eventually agreed on ceasing the production of coke until the following spring. When the miners returned to work in March 1891, they found notices stating that they would only receive a sliding scale of wages based on the price of coke. The miners felt betrayed and insulted by this turn of events. Hostilities finally broke out once those who refused to work's families were evicted from company towns and coke operators hired eastern European immigrants to fill the striker’s roles. 

Miners faced homelessness and poverty during this time as violence and rioting erupted. Immigrants and those who decided to return to work were targeted alongside the coke operators. On March 30, 1894, a group of 1,000 rioters entered the Morewood company town and attacked the company store and other buildings. The crowd continued marching toward the Morewood Works. When they reached the gates of the Morewood Works, Captain Loar, a civil war veteran, and 12 deputies fired into the crowd and killed 9 men. An unknown number were also injured. Most of these men were immigrants from Eastern Europe. 30 strikers were arrested alongside Captain Loar and his men. Loar and the deputies were eventually acquitted, however. 

The Morewood Massacre is often forgotten and overshadowed by other infamous strikes such as the Homestead Strike. This strike was just as violent as Homestead and is rarely ever talked about. Men were killed here with many more injured. The acquittal of Loar and his deputies shows how the law was often biased against workers unionizing during this time. Workers earning very little pay often stood little chance against wealthy millionaires like Frick and Carnegie. With the amount of violence perpetrated here, one may think that these conflicts between unions and employers could not continue much longer. The Homestead Strike 1 year later shows that the battle between unions and big business was far from over. Morewood's bloody legacy is just a single footnote in the long and often violent struggle between American workers and big business.

Washlaski, Raymond A. . Massacre at Morewood Mine and Coke Works (Morewood Massacre of 1891), Virtual Museum of Coal Mining in Western Pennsylvania. October 19th 2008. Accessed April 11th 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20160101191920/http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com/morewood2.html.

Wintermantel, Mike . Morewood Massacre, The Historical Marker Database. May 22nd 2012. Accessed April 11th 2022. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=55591.

History, Borough of Mount Pleasant . Accessed April 11th 2022. http://www.mtpleasantboro.com/history.html.

Morewood Massacre [Bituminous Coal] Historical Marker, Explore PA History. Accessed April 11th 2022. http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-2CB.

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