Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland
Marker Inscription
The first national strike began July 16, 1877, with Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and Baltimore, Maryland. It spread across the nation, halting rail traffic and closing factories in reaction to widespread worker discon… transcription continues on the marker
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The Story
In the depths of the long depression that followed the Panic of 1873, railroad companies slashed already-thin wages one time too many, and in July 1877 the anger boiled over. What began among Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and here in Baltimore quickly leapt from city to city along the rail lines, becoming the first genuinely nationwide strike in American history. For roughly six weeks, freight sat idle, factories fell silent, and clashes between strikers, militia, and federal troops left dozens dead before the movement was suppressed.
Why it matters
The upheaval of 1877 announced the arrival of organized industrial labor as a force in American life, exposing the raw tensions between workers and the era's booming railroad and factory economy and helping to shape decades of struggle over wages, unions, and workplace rights.
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