The following are historic points of labor history in the state of Illinois:
Downstate labor history sites
Beckemeyer Coal Miners Monument Monument dedicated to Joseph Koch, who along with eight other local miners died in the 1947 Centralia mine disaster. Plaque Reads: Centralia Coal Company Mine No 5 Disaster
On March 25, 1947, a violent explosion struck Centralia coal company mine number 5 located in Wamac, Illinois. By March 29, it was confirmed that the explosion, combined with the subsequent release of poisonous gas, had taken the lives of 111 of the 142 men working in the mine at the time of the accident.
This statue is dedicated to the memory of Joseph Koch Sr. and the other Beckemeyer miners who lost their lives in the explosion. Other victims include: Rodrigo Alvarez, Andrew Farley, Luther Frazier, John Mazeka, Joseph Peiler, John Placek, Anton Skrobul, Alfred Stevens.
Belleville Labor and Industry Museum The museum is located in 160-year-old former cigar factory at 123 North Church Street in Belleville, Illinois. It contains a collection of photographs, documents and patents relating to labor and industry in the city. The museum is open on Saturdays from 10-4 or by appointment.
George Franklin Bilyeu Monument Located in Taylorville, Illinois, and erected in memory of George Franklin Bilyeu (1854–1898) who was killed in Virden, Illinois in 1898 during a United Mine Workers of America confrontation with armed guards who were bringing strike breakers into the Virden mine. The monument is located at the Oak Hill Cemetery, 820 S. Cherokee St., Taylorville, Illinois.
Bloomington Workers' Memorial Monument
This monument is located in White Oak Park. The park, built around a quarry, has 100 trees that were donated by labor unions, to honor local asbestos workers and others who died of work-related accidents and disabilities. It also includes a large flag pole, built from steam locomotive bearings, that was moved to the site by local unions in 1996. The flag pole was fabricated in 1942 by Chicago & Alton Railroad Shops employees, as a symbol of war-time patriotism. The Bloomington Normal Trades & Labor Assembly, AFL–CIO, hosts a ceremony each Workers' Memorial Day April 28.
Bloomington labor history mural
A 12-foot-tall by 18-foot-wide labor history mural adorns the inside of Laborers Local 362's old hall, 2005 Cabintown Road, Bloomington, Illinois. The mural depicts local labor history, including the Chicago & Alton Railroad shops and the 1922 Shops workers' strike; a 1917 visit by Mary Harris "Mother" Jones in supporting of striking streetcar workers; a 1937 strike at the Beich Candy Company and the 1978 Normal Fire Fighters' strike. The mural was painted by Kari Sandhaas from 1984 to 1986.
Bloomington & Normal bike trails Bloomington and Normal have an extensive bike trail system, mostly on former railroad right of way. On these trails are historic markers, some concerning local industries and neighborhoods. On the "Constitution Trail," which runs from East Jefferson and Robinson Streets in Bloomington north through Normal, are ten historic markers. This trail is on the former 1850s Illinois Central right-of-way. On this trail are markers detailing the railroad's construction, noting a restored wooden bridge carrying Virginia Street in Normal over the trail, plus 19th century horse breeding and nursery businesses in Normal. Another east–west trail in Bloomington, built along the Peoria & Eastern (New York Central system) right of way, runs from East Lincoln and South Clayton Streets in Bloomington north and then west. It follows the currently operative Norfolk Southern Railway right of way. This trail has markers noting the local meat packing industry (Oakland Avenue), warehouse district (under South Madison Street overpass), the 1917 Streetcar strike , which featured Mary Harris "Mother" Jones (South Roosevelt Street), a German immigrant neighborhood (Mason Street) and the Union Depot (west of Alton Depot Park at South Western and West Front Street).
Bloomington Labor leaders
Patrick H. Morrissey (1862–1916) headed the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen from 1895 to 1909. The son of Chicago & Alton Railroad section foreman John Morrissey and his wife Mary, Morrissey grew up on Bloomington's west side near the railroad yards. He completed a rare event for a 19th-century working class child – he was one of 27 graduates from Bloomington High School in 1879. Morrissey worked through his schooling as a "call boy," summoning railroaders from their homes when it was time for their run. After graduation he followed his dad to the railroad, working as a clerk, brakeman and conductor.
In 1883, trainmen on the Delaware & Hudson Railroad formed the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakeman, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen after 1890. In 1885 Bloomington workers organized a lodge and Morrissey was a charter member. That year his fellow workers elected young Morrissey to represent them at the union's Burlington, Iowa convention. He caught the eye of S.E. Wilkinson, the new organization's Grand Master, and Morrissey became the BRT's clerk, editing the union's "Journal."
In 1889, Morrissey was elected Vice-Grand Master, traveling the country helping establish new lodges. The financial downturn of the 1890s and the Pullman strike defeat left the BRT penniless and dwindling. Wilkinson retired and in 1895 Morrissey was elected BRT Grand Master. The organization had less than 10,000 members and was $105,000 in debt. Morrissey saved the organization, strategically uniting with the Order of Railway Conductors. Following the Pullman strike all the operating brotherhoods attempted cooperative efforts, but this fell apart within three years. In 1902 the Conductors and Trainmen confronted the western railroads together, winning a contract which they replicated in other regions. The key strategic move the two organizations made was confronting railroads regionally, rather than individually, thus thwarting the companies' attempts to play workers on one line against another. Although the railway brotherhoods tended to be conservative and often aloof from other unions, Samuel Gompers noted Morrissey as one of 20 "outstanding fellows" who answered his pleas for support for West Virginia coal miners in 1902.
When Morrissey left the BRT in 1909, it had 120,000 members, held $2 million in insurance funds and had a $1.5 million strike fund. The union also opened a home for disabled and aged trainmen in Highland Park, Illinois in 1910. He was noted for his education and as a public spokesman for the rail brotherhoods. With a varied training in railroading, in insurance, and in labor organization work.
For the next five years, Morrissey worked in Chicago for the American Association of Railway Employees and Investors, which invested union funds in rail companies. In 1914, he became a special assistant to the president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. Two years later he was diagnosed with a "nervous breakdown," which was actually a brain tumor. He died at age 54 on November 25, 1916 and is buried in Galesburg, Illinois.
Morrissey's brothers all were politically active in local affairs and moved beyond their working-class background and the railroad. Brother Michael was elected Bloomington Police Magistrate, learned law, and served as a successful labor arbitrator and lawyer, becoming Bloomington postmaster during Democratic administrations. James Morrissey joined the Bloomington Fire Department, retiring as an assistant chief. John was on the Bloomington Election Commission. The one brother to leave town was William, who went to Denver, was active in the labor movement, wrote for the Denver Post and served on the Colorado Boxing Commission.
Daniel W. Tracy (1886–1954) was another west-side Bloomington Irish rail worker's son who achieved national leadership, as president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. New electric technology provided Tracy's road to success. After 1893 his father worked for the local street railway. Tracy completed grade school, worked briefly at the C&A shops and then began working for the street railways, occasionally listed as a laborer and later as an electrician.
Tracy last listed Bloomington as his address in 1913, migrating to the southwest. That year he joined IBEW Local 716 in Houston, working as a lineman in Texas and Oklahoma. Within three years he was business agent for two Houston locals and by 1920 was an International Vice-President for the union, representing the southwest. In 1933, with the union's membership at a record low because of the Depression, Tracy assumed the national organization's leadership, when there were 50,000 members.
By 1940, under Tracy's leadership and thanks to new legislation favorable to union organization, the IBEW had 200,000 members. A strong supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Tracy left the union in 1940 to serve as assistant Secretary of Labor under Frances Perkins. He returned to the union's presidency in 1947, served on the AFL's executive council, and led the IBEW as it grew to 360,000 members. He helped strengthen the union's apprenticeship programs and established a pension fund in 1946. A fierce anti-communist, Tracy's post-war reign was marked by tension with unions accused of being communist-led. He resigned his union presidency in 1954 and died in 1955. He's buried in Bloomington's St. Mary's Cemetery.
John Brown Lennon (1850–1923) is perhaps the most fascinating labor leader to impact Bloomington labor. Born in Lafayette County, Wisconsin on October 12, 1850, Lennon's family moved to Hannibal, Missouri within two years, where he learned the tailor's trade from his father. After some education, including seven months at Oberlin College in Ohio, Lennon moved to Denver, where he worked farming and mining before returning to the tailor's trade. He married June Allen in 1871 and they had one son. Lennon also dates his union membership from that year. He quickly became active in Colorado activities, helping organize the city's central labor council and running for mayor on a labor-socialist ticket. In August 1884 the Journeyman Tailors Union (JTU) reorganized and Lennon represented the Denver tailors. The next year 23 local unions, representing 2,481 tailors, met in convention again. Lennon was elected vice-president.
In 1886, the JTU elected Lennon general secretary, responsible for the union's affairs and editor of "The Tailor." He relocated to New York, where half the union's membership lived. The union's income that first year was $300. By 1907, the union had grown to 22,000 members in 400 local unions. Lennon also moved forward in the larger labor movement, becoming AFL treasurer in 1890. AFL President Samuel Gompers and Lennon became friends and in 1894 when the AFL president lost his post for one year to a socialist opponent, he operated from Lennon's office.
1894 almost destroyed the JTU after a disastrous New York strike. With the union's membership centered now in the Midwest, Lennon decided to relocate its national headquarters to Bloomington, setting up shop on January 1, 1896 in the Eddy Building, 427 N. Main Street. The family residence was at 614 East Mulberry Street.
Lennon quickly became active in local union affairs and helped lead the Trades & Labor Assembly, assisting and promoting local unions. Gompers came to Bloomington on June 23, 1899 to visit Lennon and addressed a labor rally that evening. Lennon took his AFL treasurer position seriously and warned the organization against over-expenditure. He also strongly supported Gompers' stances, drawing criticism from Gompers' opponents. In 1909 Lennon was the first president of the AFL's Union Label Department and helped form a Labor Press Association.