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    Tag: Pemberton Mill

    • The Bread and Roses Strike

      Lawrence, Massachusetts was the epicenter of two significant events in the history of industrial labor.  The first was the Pemberton Mill collapse, which I wrote about yesterday.  The second was the Bread and Roses Strike in 1912.  The strike began when mill workers realized that the mill owners chose to pay them two hours less in wages in reaction to a law passed in Massachusetts requiring women to work a maximum of 54 hours instead of 56 hours.  The mill owners weren’t exactly looking out for the welfare of the immigrants who worked in their mills, and took the cold calculation that if someone was working 54 hours they should be payed for 54 hours, not more.

      On January 11th the workers at the Everett Mills found that their wages were reduced and walked out, beginning the strike.  The next day the Washington Mill discovered their wages were reduced and followed suit.  Everntually upwards of 25,000 mill workers were on strike.  Police and the Massachusetts National Guard were brought in to “keep the peace” and instead poured gas on the fire as violence escalated.  One young woman named Anna LoPizzo was killed and instead of prosecuting the person that shot her the union organizers were framed for murder.

      As the strike continued for weeks families started sending their children on the train to the homes of sympathizers.  When another group of children were gathered together to be sent to more homes, the mill owners and police tried to prevent it.  This led to national attention on the working conditions that the mill workers were living with.  Eventually the mill owners agreed to a 5% raise to end the strike but tensions remained high.  One immigrant was beaten to death for wearing a pro-union pin.

      Over time the higher wages of workers in the mills prompted a shift in manufacturing of textiles, shoes and other items first to the south and eventually overseas.  The horrific working conditions that the Lawrence mill workers labored in shifted to these other places too.  When I hear about sweat shops in China or other places I can’t help but think about the original sweat shops along the banks of the Merrimack River.  The mills didn’t start this way, but over time the plight of the workers degraded  as the greed of the mill owners increased.  Now and then it’s good to look back on the history of the Industrial Revolution to understand why labor laws have evolved the way they have.

    • The Pemberton Mill Disaster

      On a quiet hill overlooking the City of Lawrence, Massachusetts is a monument memorializing the 145 mill workers killed on January 10th, 1860 when the Pemberton Mill collapsed.  Another 166 were injured.  Many victims were women and children.  As recent immigrants to America, the victims were buried at Bellevue Cemetery and this simple monument marks time serving as a reminder of the souls who perished that day.

      The Pemberton Mill disaster remains one of the worst industrial accidents in history.  If it were to happen today the mill owners would be imprisoned for criminal negligence.  The mill was built by the Essex Company in 1853 and was sold at a loss to George Howe and David Nevins, Sr. four years later during an economic downturn.  Howe and Nevins jammed more machinery into the building to make it more profitable.  This proved disastrous as three years later the building collapsed on itself with 800 mill workers inside.

      Immediately after the collapse rescuers converged on the pile of rubble to try to dig victims out.  Sometime during the rescue a lantern caused a fire that quickly grew to an uncontrollable inferno as oil-soaked wooden beams became tinder.  Rescuers could hear dozens of people screaming in terror as the flames raced through the rubble, eventually extinguishing the voices one by one.

      This is one of the most horrific stories I’ve ever read about, and it happened along the banks of the Merrimack River in Lawrence.  I’ve heard about the Pemberton Mill disaster, but I never really knew the extent of the tragedy.  For the young mill workers hoping to earn an honest wage in America, this was a brutally cruel end to their hopes and dreams.

      David Nevins, Sr. lived a long life, becoming a wealthy and generous resident of Methuen, Massachusetts.  The library in town is named after him.  Howe lived a long life too, but seems to have been less generous with his money.  The names of the workers who perished in the mill are long forgotten by history.  But their final moments serve as a stark reminder of what can happen when you stretch the limits of safety in the workplace.