What was the news coverage like for the first Labor Day celebrations? The Library of Congress and its “Chronicling America” collection gives us some newspaper examples and this description of the first parade:
On September 5, 1882, some 10,000 workers assembled in New York City to participate in America’s first Labor Day parade. After marching from City Hall, past reviewing stands in Union Square, and then uptown to 42nd Street, the workers and their families gathered in Wendel’s Elm Park for a picnic, concert, and speeches. This first Labor Day celebration was eagerly organized and executed by New York’s Central Labor Union, an umbrella group made up of representatives from many local unions. Debate continues to this day as to who originated the idea of a workers’ holiday, but it definitely emerged from the ranks of organized labor at a time when they wanted to demonstrate the strength of their burgeoning movement and inspire improvements in their working conditions.
Newspaper Examples
“There was little in the parade of Tuesday in this city, or in any of the many descriptions which were yesterday published of it, or in the speeches which were reported as having been made on the occasion, which gave it or them the character of a labor demonstration….The gathering had none of the aspects of a bread riot, but every semblance of a picnic or a political barbecue.”
— “A Labor Demonstration”
New York Tribune, Sep. 7, 1882
(“The Sun” (New York), September 1, 1884, Library of Congress Image)
“The workingmen say they will have 20,000 men in line in the great labor parade today, and that the day generally will be observed throughout the city as a workingmen’s holiday. The Central Labor Union have been busy for months with the details, and have already begun a movement in several other cities to have the first Monday in September a universal holiday for workingmen.”
—“Labor’s Monster Parade”
The Sun (New York, NY), Sep. 1, 1884
“The first observance in the state of Minnesota of the 7th of September as a national labor holiday passed off successfully. The celebration was intended not only to secure a day of recreation and rest, but as an assertion of the growing intention of the producer to secure recognition….The mayors of both St. Paul and Minneapolis issued proclamations approving the celebrations, and employers generally did not attempt any opposition. About 3,000 people attended the labor picnic at White Bear lake.”
— “The Workingmen’s Picnic”
St. Paul Daily Globe, Sep. 8, 1885
“Two thousand men marched over the paved district of the city this morning — two thousand of the bone and sinew of Salt Lake. From the advance guard of policemen to the last straggling laborer, a line of march stretching over nearly two miles, it was a magnificent showing of those who earn their bread by the sweat of their brows and the skill of their hands.”
— “Finest Labor Demonstration in the City’s History”
Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake City, UT), Sep. 2, 1901
In 1904 the Thomas Edison company filmed an early newsreel about a Massachusetts Labor Day parade.
