Boston Police Strike of 1919
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Marker Inscription
Boston Police Strike Sept 9th, 1919. On this site at Dover and Fay Sts. was the original location of the Boston Social Club, which was chartered by the American Federation of Labor on August 15th, 1919, as local 16,807 to represent Boston Police Patrolmen. On August 26th, Union President John F. McInnes and 18 of his newly-elected union representatives were suspended by the police commissioner for forming a union in violation of Department rules. On Sept. 9th, 1919, at 5:45 pm, 1,117 Boston Policemen left their posts in support if their leaders and went on strike. Three days of rioting ensued, ending only after a call-up of the National Guard. None of the striking police officers were ever rehired.
Erected by Boston Police Patrolmen's Association
The Story
At Dover and Fay Streets stood the Boston Social Club, chartered by the American Federation of Labor in August 1919 as a union for the city's police patrolmen. When the commissioner suspended the union's newly elected leaders, 1,117 officers walked off the job on September 9, 1919, touching off three days of rioting that ended only with a call-up of the National Guard. In a harsh coda, none of the striking officers were ever rehired.
Why it matters
The Boston Police Strike became a landmark in the national debate over whether public employees could organize, with consequences felt for decades.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
By 1919, America was a nation of factories, streetcars, and crowded cities, and its workers were organizing as never before. The years around the First World War had swelled the ranks of labor unions, and the American Federation of Labor was extending its reach into trade after trade. At the same time, a wave of postwar strikes and deep public anxiety about radical politics made any large walkout feel, to many, like a threat to public order itself.
Boston's police patrolmen lived that tension directly. Their pay had lagged, their hours were long, and conditions in the station houses were often poor. Like workers in many other fields, they began to ask whether organizing was the way to be heard.
But police were not ordinary workers. They carried the authority of the city and the duty to keep its peace. Whether the men who enforced the law could themselves unionize and strike was an untested and explosive question — and Boston was about to test it in the most public way imaginable.
People & events
On this site, at Dover and Fay Streets, stood the Boston Social Club, the patrolmen's own organization. In August 1919 it took a decisive step, receiving a charter from the American Federation of Labor as a union to represent Boston's police patrolmen.
The city's leadership drew a hard line. Late that August the police commissioner suspended the union's president, John F. McInnes, along with a group of his newly elected representatives, on the grounds that forming the union violated department rules. To the officers, this was punishment for standing together; to the commissioner, it was enforcement of discipline. Neither side would give way.
On the evening of September 9, 1919, the confrontation broke open: more than a thousand Boston policemen left their posts in support of their suspended leaders and went on strike. With the force off the streets, three days of rioting followed, and order was only restored after the National Guard was called up. The aftermath was unyielding — none of the striking officers were ever taken back onto the force.
Its place in the American story
The Boston Police Strike became a defining national event in the long argument over whether public employees — those whose work is the public's safety — have the right to organize and to strike. The sight of a major city left without its police, followed by disorder in the streets, hardened opinion against the idea for years and gave officials elsewhere a cautionary tale they would cite for decades.
The firm response to the strike also propelled political careers and shaped how leaders talked about the duties public servants owe the communities they serve. The phrase-making and stern stands of 1919 echoed far beyond Boston.
The questions raised here never fully went away. Every later debate over whether police, firefighters, teachers, and other public workers may bargain and strike traces part of its lineage to this corner, where the issue first exploded onto the national stage with unmistakable force.
If you visit
The intersection of Dover and Fay Streets today gives little hint of the drama that once centered here — which is exactly why the marker matters. It asks you to look at an unremarkable Boston corner and see the birthplace of a confrontation that reached the whole country.
Standing here, picture the station-house grievances that built for years, the charter that briefly gave the patrolmen hope, and the September evening when more than a thousand of them chose their suspended leaders over their posts. Then remember the hard coda: not one striker was rehired. It is a place that rewards a moment of quiet reflection on how high the stakes of collective action can run.
This stop fits well into a day exploring Boston's working history, a city whose story is not only revolution and founders but also the factories, wharves, and station houses where ordinary people wrestled with the rights of labor. Let this corner be the reminder that some of the nation's biggest questions were fought out on its plainest streets.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Griffin Museum at Digital Silver Imaging5.9 mi away
- Edmund Fowle House6.1 mi away · 26;28 Marshall Street, Watertown, MA
- Drive By Projects6.2 mi away · 81 Spring Street, Watertown, MA
- Armenian Museum of America6.4 mi away · 65 Main Street, Watertown, MA
- Cyrus Dallin Art Museum6.7 mi away · 611 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA
- turtle studios6.9 mi away · 213 California Street, Newton, MA
Attractions
- Harvard Square3.4 mi away
- Heartbreak Hill (Top/End)5.8 mi away
- Heartbreak Hill (Bottom/Start)6.3 mi away
- 1899 MIT Observatory site6.8 mi away
- Arlington Center Historic District6.8 mi away
- Central Street Historical District6.9 mi away
Food & drink
- Lexington House of Pizza10.0 mi away
- Dunkin'10.7 mi away · 10 Woburn Street, Lexington, MA
- Bruegger's Bagels10.7 mi away
- Formosa Taipei10.7 mi away
- Spirit of India10.7 mi away
- Dunkin'10.8 mi away · 373 Waltham Street, Lexington, MA
Places to stay
- Homewood Suites5.4 mi away · 1 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA
- The Lodge at Brandeis10.1 mi away
- Hilton Garden Inn10.4 mi away · 450 Totten Pond Road, Waltham, MA
- Extended Stay America10.5 mi away · 52 Fourth Avenue
- Extended Stay America10.5 mi away · 32 Fourth Avenue
- Best Western10.5 mi away · 380 Winter Street
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Related people
- · John F. McInnes
Related events
- · Boston Police Strike of 1919
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