In 1827, an anonymous pamphlet written by someone spending the harsh winter in debtors' prison inspired workers from a variety of trades formed the Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations to advocate for better working conditions and to educate workers in the city. Textile mills, particularly in the Manayuk district of the city, were harsh working environments. An economic depression from 1819 to 1822 eliminated many workers' unions as well as severe unemployment. By 1823 the economy had begun to recover and union activity resumed.The anonymous pamphlet encouraged workers to unite across professions and trades. It advocated a free library for workers, a ten-hour working day, universal suffrage, and a free press. Later in 1827, the Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations formed. This was the first city-wide union in America which sought to unite tradespeople. The union had its own constitution, advocated for higher wages to stimulate economic growth, and formed the Mechanics Library Company which published the Mechanics' Free Press. The union supported strikes throughout its brief history. Other unions, such as the Philadelphia Trades' Union, sprang up in the city during this time, and labor issues anchored political parties seeking office. 1835, workers succeeded in securing a ten-hour working day in the city as well as a wage increase.This union disestablished itself in 1837. The Philadelphia Historical Commission placed a marker at this spot to commemorate the union in 2004.

Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations historical marker, by National Park Service via HMDB.org (reproduced under Fair Use)

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Louis H. Arky, "The Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations and the Formation of the Philadelphia Workingmen's Movement," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 76:2 (1952): 142-76

A marker stands at this spot to commemorate the founding of the Mechanics' Union of Trade Association in 1827. It was the first association of its kind, uniting working professions from all over the city to organize and agitate for better labor conditions. Among other activities, the union engaged in workers' education and advocated for a ten-hour workday.

Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations

This trail includes a variety of historical markers, former factories, and other sites that collectively share the history of unions, workers, and the labor movement in the City of Brotherly Love.

A brief history of the Knights and their significance in the 19th century labor movement from A History of the United States by David Trowbridge. &nbsp;"The Knights believed in a radical reordering of the economic
system with factories being collectively owned and controlled by the workers.
In some ways, this vision was similar to the ideas of&nbsp;those who had advocated
collective land redistribution to former slaves following the Civil War. However,
like radical ideas about land, the Knights won few converts to their philosophy
of collective ownership of factories, although their membership increased in
the years that followed.&nbsp;The Knights attracted a small but devout following in their early
years. By 1879, there were 10,000 members when Scranton, Pennsylvania mayor Terrance
Powderly was also selected to lead the Knights. Membership grew
exponentially to 700,000 members following a successful strike by some members
of the Knights in 1886. About ten percent of members were women and African
Americans—something that made the Knights very unique at this time but also
aroused opposition among other labor movements. Ironically, the philosophy of
the Knights of Labor was not one based on winning tactical goals such as
raises, but rather on mobilizing politically in hopes of winning support for
their more radical goals of eliminating child labor, minimum wages and maximum
hours, and eventually collective ownership.Leaders of various trade unions—the kinds of organizations that
represented skilled laborers within a specific craft rather than the general
laborers the Knights sought to organize—declared a national work stoppage for
May, 1, 1886. May 1 would soon be known as Labor Day and become an international
day of worker solidarity. In the meantime, tens of thousands of workers in
various leading cities who were affiliated with various trade unions walked off
their jobs to demonstrate the power of workers over management. Most returned
the next day, but in Chicago, tensions were already high because of a
long-standing disagreement and strike at the McCormick Harvester. Although
Powderly believed the strike was a mistake, his union had grown far beyond his
control, and some laborers affiliated with the Knights participated in this and
other strikes throughout the city. McCormick hired strikebreakers, a practice which
had led to small-scale violence between union workers and the new employees who
were replacing them. On May 3, the two groups clashed and the police opened
fire on the crowd, killing four workers.&nbsp;The following day, thousands of Chicagoans gathered at the city’s Haymarket Square to protest police
violence and the intimidation of union workers. An unknown party set off a bomb
that injured many in the crowd and killed several policemen. Once again the
police fired into the crowd, allegedly in response to armed anarchists who
sought to destroy the capitalist system. Eight known anarchists present that
day were arrested, and four were executed with little evidence to connect them
to the violence. Most newspapers referred to the event as the Haymarket Riot,
emphasizing the lawlessness of many in the crowd whose behavior made an
otherwise peaceful labor protest turn violent. Others labeled May 4, 1886, as
the Haymarket Massacre, emphasizing the deaths of at least a dozen bystanders
and police, most of whom were killed by the undisciplined fire of their fellow
officers. Because of the radicalism of some leaders present during the Haymarket Affair, radical labor unions
such as the Knights of Labor were connected to the violence in the public mind.
May 1 would not be celebrated in the United States, as it was in the rest of
the world, because government officials viewed labor activism with suspicion. Membership
in the Knights and other unions dropped and many Americans began to connect the
labor movement to anarchists and communists who advocated any method to destroy
the capitalist system."

The Knights of Labor, the most influential industrial union in the late 19th century, was established by Uriah Stephens and eight garment workers at this location on December 9, 1869. The Knights believed that it was essential to include both skilled and unskilled laborers else these groups might be played against one another. The organization was also unique in their acceptance of women and African Americans (although they were usually expected to join separate organizations.  

Founding of the Knights of Labor, 1869

In 1827, an anonymous pamphlet written by someone spending the harsh winter in debtors' prison inspired workers from a variety of trades formed the Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations to advocate for better working conditions and to educate workers in the city. Textile mills, particularly in the Manayuk district of the city, were harsh working environments. An economic depression from 1819 to 1822 eliminated many workers' unions as well as severe unemployment. By 1823 the economy had begun to recover and union activity resumed. The anonymous pamphlet encouraged workers to unite across professions and trades. It advocated a free library for workers, a ten-hour working day, universal suffrage, and a free press. Later in 1827, the Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations formed. This was the first city-wide union in America which sought to unite tradespeople. The union had its own constitution, advocated for higher wages to stimulate economic growth, and formed the Mechanics Library Company which published the Mechanics' Free Press. The union supported strikes throughout its brief history. Other unions, such as the Philadelphia Trades' Union, sprang up in the city during this time, and labor issues anchored political parties seeking office. 1835, workers succeeded in securing a ten-hour working day in the city as well as a wage increase. This union disestablished itself in 1837. The Philadelphia Historical Commission placed a marker at this spot to commemorate the union in 2004.

The Heywood Brothers Company was founded in 1826 in Massachusetts by five brothers. The firm opened a branch in Philadelphia by 1875 and occupied 802-804 Market Street. The company also manufactured baby carriages by 1881, having moved to the northwest corner of Broad and Cherry streets. Their new chair factory at 1010-1014 Race Street was open by 1892. On the upper seven floors, wood rods were steamed, bent, and made into furniture. The form supplied a number of educational institutions with furniture, including Bryn Mawr College. The designer of the Race Street building, Willis G. Hale (1841-1907), had already designed a mansion at Broad and Girard Streets for Peter Widener and several local bank buildings. The building features tan brick, delicate Queen Anne style decoration and pressed metal trim. The neighborhood of the Race Street building became Philadelphia's Chinatown by the late 1890s. The Heywood Brothers Company moved from the Race Street factory building in 1908, to 244-254 South 5th Street. The Race Street building was owned by William Weightman by 1910. The manager of Heywood Brothers &amp; Company in Philadelphia in 1895 was named Samuel Sailor. The Heywood Brothers Company merged with another prominent furniture manufacturer, Wakefield Company, in 1897. The firm became Heywood Brothers &amp; Wakefield Company. The firm shortened their name to Heywood-Wakefield in 1921. The company was still operating at the 5th Street location in the mid-1920s; that building has not survived. Heywood-Wakefield operated seven factories by the 1920s. The company went on to produce popular Art Deco and mid-century solid wood furniture in the 1930s to 1950s. South Beach Furniture Company obtained the rights to the Heywood-Wakefield name in 1992. The company continues to make solid wood furniture in America from American-grown Northern Yellow Birch trees. By the early 1980s, the first floor of the Race Street building was occupied by a Chinese restaurant. The upper floors had remained industrial into the 1980s and were used then for manufacturing clothing. The years from the early 1990s to 2003 were the hotel era for the building. Since 2003, the building has been condominiums. The Tenten complex offers one and two-bedroom units and bi-level penthouses from about 500 to 1,400 square feet. The building features a doorman, elevator, and individual HVAC in each unit. Recent condo sales have ranged from $90,000 to $240,000.

The high-rise building at 1010-1014 Race Street once held the Heywood Chair Factory, where bentwood chairs were made. The 1892 building is now in the Chinatown neighborhood of Center City, Philadelphia. The building was designed by Willis G. Hale for the Heywood Brothers Company of Gardner, Massachusetts. The factory and showroom moved elsewhere in town in 1908. The first floor became the Lotus Inn, a Chinese restaurant, by the 1980s and the upper floors were used for manufacturing clothing. By 1990, the building had become a Quality Inn; it later was a Ramada Suites and then a Clarion Suites. The building was converted into condominiums in 2003; Tenten Race Street is the name. The Heywood Chair Factory was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 for its architecture, as an example of Hale's design, and for its history in local manufacturing.

Heywood Chair Factory

Eliza Sproat Turner (1826-1903) founded the New Century Guild with several other upper-class women from the New Century Club to advance the interests and education of working women. The guild's first headquarters was on two locations on Girard Street, and it then moved to Arch Street in 1893 before purchasing this four-story Italianate town house in 1906. At this time, the club had about 1000 members. During the guild's first few decades, the percentage of the labor force occupied by women increased significantly. Women's groups expanded as well during this time period; the New Century Guild combined the functions of many types of organizations, including education, social programs, professional socializing, and advocating for improved working conditions. The club's services and output included a national newspaper; a research section devoted to collecting statistics related to women and labor to support policy proposals; a library with full-time librarian; evening classes; an assembly hall; guest rooms; a restaurant providing affordable midday meals for working women; and a health insurance plan. Club members could form "sections," or interest groups. The house is a typical row house for its time period, four stories with a raised basement. The club added a marble inset sign with the name of the club and its founder. The Guild contracted the architectural firm Bunting and Shrigley to make recommendations for the renovation for the building and made changes included converting the first-floor laundry into a kitchen and expanding the space outward. At the time of the building's nomination as a National Historic Landmark in the 1990s, the woodwork and Victorian/Edwardian interior features were largely intact. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993, and the Philadelphia Historical &amp; Museum Commission placed a marker outside the building in 1996. The Guild House Hotel now occupies the building. The New Century Guild is still extant in the form of its legal successor, the New Century Trust, a nonprofit working to end political and economic inequalities affecting women and girls.

Eliza Sproat Turner founded the New Century Guild in 1882 as a society to support and educate working women. The group occupied several sites in its first quarter-century -- originally on Girard Street until 1893, then on Arch St. -- before purchasing this four-story Italianate row house in 1906. Here, the organization ran a plethora of services for working women, supporting individual women with meals and health insurance as well as supporting protective labor legislation. The site was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1993 and a historic marker stands outside the building. The Guild House Hotel now occupies the structure, and the club is now called the New Century Trust.

New Century Guild

Class tensions were high in 1840s Philadelphia; backlash against the influx of European immigrants erupted into anti-immigrant violence in 1844. The Society for the Employment and Instruction of the Poor, an organization managed by both men and women, founded the House of Industry in response to the needs of the poorest residents of the city, particularly immigrants. It was a separate organization from the house of industry operated by the Female Society of Philadelphia for the Relief and Employment of the Poor, founded several decades earlier. Initially, the main populations of immigrants served by the house were English-speaking people from the British Isles, and the organization trained them to make shoes, rugs, clothing, baskets, and brushes. It also provided housing, predating the settlement house movement which would emerge in the United States several decades later. As immigration from southern Europe, particularly Italy, became more common, the organization shifted to offer English language classes as well. The organization's efforts sought to alleviate poverty, but also to assimilate immigrants into mainstream American culture. In 1921, the House of Industry formed the Philadelphia Welfare Federation with several other settlement houses. Twenty-five years later, in 1946, the organizations formally merged into the United Neighbors Association. This new organization underwent further changes in the 1960s; United Communities Southeast Philadelphia is the successor of the House of Industry and other similar organizations. The architect of the original House of Industry building was Thomas U. Walter. The illustration of the building in the mid-nineteenth century appears different from later photographs of the building, so there may have been renovations or even multiple structures on this site. The building is no longer standing.

The Philadelphia Society for the Employment and Instruction of the Poor founded the House of Industry here in 1846 to provide training, shelter, and welfare programs for impoverished citizens of the city, including immigrants. It predated many of the settlement houses which would arise in the United States in the coming decades. The House of Industry sought to aid the city's people in moving out of poverty and into the social mainstream with job training, English-language courses, and the necessities for life. In the twentieth century, the House of Industry underwent several changes and mergers with other settlement houses and similar organizations. United Communities Southeast Philadelphia, a successor of these groups, continues this anti-poverty and community-building work today.

House of Industry Site

Black hotel workers in Philadelphia founded this benevolent organization around 1883 to provide health care for workers in their industry. The group grew out of an effort of a few workers on the 200 block of Juniper Street who gathered to raise money for medical expenses for a coworker. It was one of the first trade organizations in the hotel industry, and become one of the largest. Additionally, it was one of the earliest trade organizations representing Black hotel workers and addressing pay inequality and other forms of discrimination, the organization has long ties to civil rights activism and has hosted keynote addresses from prominent leaders such as the late Julian Bond. The organization operated as a benevolent and mutual aid society, and chapters of the group were founded in other US cities. The organization has resided at this location since 1906. As the organization's focus expanded to include other trades, it adopted the name Bainbridge Club in the 1980s. In 2016, the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office placed a historic marker in front of the building to commemorate the organization.

Black hotel workers in Philadelphia founded this benevolent organization in the early 1880s to provide health care and aid for workers in their industry. Hotel Brotherhood USA was one of the first trade organizations in the hotel industry, and it soon became one of the largest. The organization was also one of the earliest trade organizations representing Black workers, with members and officers working to address pay inequality and other forms of discrimination. In its early years, the organization operated as a benevolent and mutual aid society, and chapters of the group were founded in other US cities. The organization has been headquartered at this location since 1906, and its current clubhouse was completed in 1924 and was recently remodeled along with an upstairs ballroom that is available for rent. 

Hotel Brotherhood USA and the Bainbridge Club

In the late 18th century, Philadelphia had a higher population than any other city in America. Like all crowded cities, it faced the dangers of fires and epidemics, particularly since it lacked a water distribution system. After a yellow fever outbreak in 1793 killed one fifth of Philadelphia's population (see Lazaretto Quarantine Station for more on the epidemic), Philadelphia became the first city in the world to consider water distribution as a municipal system. In 1798, the Watering Committee of was formed by the Philadelphia Select and Common Councils, charged with the task of providing potable water for the city. Centre Square Works, engineered in 1801 by Benjamin Henry Latrobe and his assistant Frederick Graff, consisted of two steam-powered pumping stations built to draw water from the Schuylkill River to Centre Square (where City Hall now stands). However, the tanks were not large enough to keep up with the demands of the rapidly growing city.Frederick Graff was appointed Superintendent of the works in 1805, and designed the buildings and technology of Fairmount Water Works on the east bank of the Schuylkill to supplement the older Centre Square system. The first Fairmount Water Works buildings were constructed beginning in 1812 and were operational three years later. The Federal-style Engine House held two steam engines (one in operation and one as backup in case the first failed), one a low pressure Bolton &amp; Watts style built in part at Eagle Works in Philadelphia and the other a high pressure Columbian engine built at the Mars Works in Philadelphia. The engines pumped water 96 feet up to the two million gallon reservoir atop Morris Hill (or Faire Mount, now occupied by the Philadelphia Museum of Art). Five water mains transported water from the reservoir into the old Centre Square system, powered simply by gravity as the water flowed down the hill into the city. The original pipes were hollowed-out logs, delivering fresh water to homes and fire hydrants.In 1818 and 1821, boiler explosions caused three deaths and financial setbacks to an already expensive (nearly $31,000 per year) and overtasked system. Following the first of the boiler explosions, the city decided to build a dam across the fast-flowing Schuylkill at Fairmount to provide water power to the pumping station. In 1819, Philadelphia purchased the water rights at the six-foot Falls of the Schuylkill from Josiah White and Joseph Gillingham. The 1,204-foot long crib dam, 270-foot earthen mound dam, millrace and head arches, and canal locks were designed by Ariel Cooley and constructed by 1821 with the help of the Schuylkill Navigation Company. At the time, it was the longest dam in the world, crossing the river diagonally and creating a six-mile long lake behind it. The crib dam consisted of hemlock logs filled with stone and planked over with oak, which were attached to one another and to the rock bed of the river, as well as the stone pier connecting it to the earthen dam, which was 15 feet higher and crossed a portion of the river where 11-foot thick mud prevented the anchoring of a crib.Thanks to the dam, water was redirected into a set of forebays behind the millhouse, which was designed by Superintendent Graff with advice from millwright Thomas Oakes. The neoclassical millhouse held eight pumps and eight water wheels (installed individually from 1822 and 1843), each fifteen feet wide by sixteen to eighteen feet in diameter, as well as tempiettos at each end of the building, one for the Watering Committee Building and one as a Caretaker's House. Each wheel spun at around 14 revolutions per minute, with a capacity of up to 121.4 gallons of water per revolution. About 30 gallons of water through the wheels was needed to pump one gallon up to the reservoir; the excess rejoined the natural flow of the river below the dam. The cost of pumping dropped so dramatically with the switch from steam to water power that the Fairmount Water Works became the most profitable business in Philadelphia. In 1835, the Engine House was remodeled to create a public saloon with a new porch overlooking the river, and the grounds were landscaped and decorated with sculptures by Philadelphia artist William Rush, as well as fountains and promenades. The following year, three new reservoirs were added to Morris Hill. After the death of Superintendent Graff in 1846, his son, Frederick Graff, Jr. took over operations.At high tide, twice a day, the Schuylkill River flowed backwards, filling the wells of the water wheels and stopping them for hours at a time. Replacement in 1851 of the vertical wheels with horizontal wheels powering Jonval turbines, unaffected by changes in the flow of the river, solved the problem. A new area between the Engine House and millhouse was built for the gear train for the turbines, as well as an engine room below the Engine House terrace. A new reservoir at Corinthian Avenue required the construction of a standpipe in 1852, and a New Mill House at the mound dam was built from 1859-1862 in order to accommodate three larger Jonval turbines, under the instruction of engineer John Birkenbine. The Old Mill House was also remodeled to house three additional turbines installed between 1868 and 1872; Frederick Graff, Jr. built, in the same year, a classical pavilion based on a drawing made by his father in 1820. The crib dam was replaced 38 feet beyond its original line and a pier was built to link it with the mound dam, but the original cribs remain in place to this day.None of these measures could address the mounting problem of pollution in the Schuylkill River, however, which had concerned the city as early as the 1840s. As a precaution, the city had purchased land upriver of the Water Works to prevent industrial development, and soon after the end of the Civil War, Fairmount Park was created to protect the water quality of the river. Beginning in 1866, a series of surveys sought new water sources for the city of Philadelphia. An 1868 law proposed to increase fines for industrial pollution of the Schuylkill as far as Norristown from $100 to $1,000, but businesses petitioned against the legislature. In spite of the efforts of the city and the water company, pollution of both the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers increased steadily. The waters ran Black, and tens of thousands of Philadelphians died of typhoid fever and cholera epidemics between the 1870s and the beginning of the 20th century. In 1905, the Purity of Waters Act prohibited sewage pollution of Pennsylvania waterways, though without a sewage treatment plant, it would be the 1950s before such pollution of the river ended. Meanwhile, the city of Philadelphia constructed water filtration plants, eliminating bacteria and chlorinating the water supply. When the plants were completed in 1909, Fairmount Water Works was decommissioned. The property went to the Mayor for use as a Public Aquarium in 1911, and all the machinery except for an 1851 Jonval turbine and pump was removed by March of the following year. The reservoirs were drained, replaced by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, constructed beginning in 1919. The standpipe and distribution arch were removed during the following decade.The Water Works buildings served as the Philadelphia Aquarium from November 1911-1962, with the lone Jonval turbine in the former Engine House providing water to the tanks. By the 1920s, the aquarium was one of the four largest in the world. The Engine House served as an office building with a lecture hall containing tanks from the 1893 Chicago and 1905 St. Louis Fairs. Freshwater tanks were housed in the Old Mill House and saltwater tanks in the New Mill House. The forebay became a winter home for seals from New Jersey. After the aquarium closed in December of 1962, the Water Works buildings were converted for use as the John B. Kelly Pool, which served competitive swimmers and Philadelphia students as a practice facility. The efforts of Susan Meyers and the Junior League of Philadelphia in the 1970s led to the restoration of the Water Works as a historic site, and the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 led to the Philadelphia Water Department's need for a permanent educational facility on public stewardship of urban watersheds. It was decided in 1974 that the Water Works would be restored as a recreational and educational facility with an emphasis on its historic utility.Fairmount Water Works was declared a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1975, a National Historic Landmark in 1976, and a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1977. Archaeological investigations on both the Water Works and the dam began in the 1970s and are ongoing. The Fairmount Dam, now maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has been rebuilt in concrete. Though it is no longer used for water power, the dam still holds the water supply for the city's Belmont and Queen Lane Pumping Stations. The six-mile lake held back by the dam, known as the Schuylkill Pool, allows space for the Boathouse Row based Schuylkill Navy and Philadelphia Canoe Club. The original locks on the west bank were demolished in 1950, but a portion of the guard lock wall remains. Environmental legislation led to significant reduction of pollution of the Schuylkill, which became Pennsylvania's first Scenic River in 1978 and a National Heritage Area in 2000. The restored Old Mill House and Engine House have served since 2003 as the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center, which chronicles the 200 year history of Philadelphia's water supply and houses interactive exhibits and participatory labs on water quality. Classes for schoolchildren and public lectures are also held in the interpretive center, which doubles as the Delaware River Basin's Official Watershed Education Center and the Gateway Center for the Schuylkill River National and State Heritage Area. The Fairmount Water Works is also the repository for urban watershed research and the Philadelphia Water Department's green management solutions for the treatment of storm water. In 2006, the Water Works Restaurant and Lounge opened in the Engine House and Caretaker's House. The South Garden (originally designed by Frederick Graff in 1829) and Cliffside Path were restored to an 1875 landscape, including the restored Marble Fountain (out of order for over 115 years), 1848 Gothic-style Graff Memorial, and bust of Frederick Graff, with reproduction light fixtures, benches, and railings added. The cast-iron railings along the Cliffside Path to the Philadelphia Museum of Art were recreated and the path repaved and stabilized.Marker Inscriptions:Fairmount Dam: The steam engines originally used to pump river water up to the Reservoir were dangerous and expensive to operate. Because of this, the Watering Committee decided to convert the Water Works to water power. The Fairmount Dam was built to achieve this goal. / Located to your right, the dam crosses the Schuylkill River at an angle. It diverted the river from its natural channel into the Forebay, now filled-in. At 2,008 feet, this innovative dam was the longest in the United States when completed in 1821. It was designed by Massachusetts engineer Ariel Cooley. / In addition to providing water power, the dam created a pool of calm, pond-like water stretching five miles upriver. The "Fairmount Pool" has been popularly used for boating and recreation from the 1820s to the present.Fairmount Water Works: Centerpiece of Philadelphia's water system, 1815-1909. The neoclassical buildings, designed by Frederick Graff and Frederic Graff, Jr., concealed huge machines that pumped Schuylkill River water to a reservoir above, whence it flowed to the city. Power was originally supplied by Oliver Evans' high-pressure steam engine, the largest of its day. After 1821 the pumps were driven by breast wheels; after 1851, by turbines.

Fairmount Water Works, dating to 1812, was declared a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1975, a National Historic Landmark in 1976, and a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1977. The Fairmount Dam, originally constructed in 1821, is no longer used for water power, but still holds the water supply for the city's Belmont and Queen Lane Pumping Stations. The restored Old Mill House and Engine House have served since 2003 as the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center, which chronicles the 200 year history of Philadelphia's water supply and houses interactive exhibits and participatory labs on water quality. Classes for schoolchildren and public lectures are also held in the interpretive center, which doubles as the Delaware River Basin's Official Watershed Education Center and the Gateway Center for the Schuylkill River National and State Heritage Area. The Fairmount Water Works is also the repository for urban watershed research and the Philadelphia Water Department's green management solutions for the treatment of storm water. In 2006, the Water Works Restaurant and Lounge opened in the Engine House and Caretaker's House. The South Garden (originally designed by Frederick Graff in 1829) and Cliffside Path have also been restored and are open to the public.

Fairmount Dam and Water Works

"The Labor Monument: Philadelphia’s Tribute to the American Worker" was designed by John Kindness from a variety of mediums including cast bronze, exposed aggregate concrete benches, and terracotta brick. Kindness is from Belfast, Ireland, and his father was a member of the working class, which inspired Kindess's work for the monument. The public art monument was commissioned by the Fairmount Park Art Association, which is now the Association for Public Art. The monument celebrates Philadelphia's rich working-class history, as well as national organized labor. Kindness's design of seven metal tables is inspired by the buttons on work uniforms that often displayed slogans and images. The blue coloring of the pavement and bricks also represents the typical working class uniform coloring, which also derived the terminology "blue collar". The people featured on the seven Work Button Tables are Eugene V. Debs, who organized the American Railway Union, and Karen Silkwood, the chemical engineer whose death inspired reform to protect worker's health. Some of the tables also represent movements and unions, such as, "¡Sí, Se Puede!". the United Farm Workers, Child Labor Reform, "I AM A MAN", the laborers' role in the Civil Rights Movement, "The Wobblies", the Industrial Workers of the World, and "Bread and Roses", which commemorated feminism in labor. The Labor Monument brought a community project to Elmwood Park that contains art and history for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

Artist John Kindness designed this memorial, which was dedicated to labor leaders and workers in 2010. The monument depicts farm laborers and textile workers, as well as leaders such as Eugene Debs and chemical engineer Karen Gray Silkwood, who died under mysterious circumstances after testifying before Congress about the health and safety of her fellow workers in nuclear energy. The memorial also pays tribute to organizations such as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) a radical labor union that was known as the "Woblies" for reasons that are still debated. The monument is located in the center Philadelphia's Elmwood Park. 

Philadelphia Labor History

Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information