Samuel Gompers [1850-1924]

N.B.: This is one of more than 70 web pages presenting -- in chronological order -- physical monuments & selected events related to one or more notable peacemakers. For others in the series, see names in red on web page for Notable Peacemakers.

Click here for other peace monuments related to the labor movement.

Samuel Gompers [1850-1924] -- was an English-born American cigarmaker who became a labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFofL) & served as that organization's president 1886-1894 & 1895-1924. He promoted harmony among the different craft unions that comprised the AFofL, trying to minimize jurisdictional battles. He promoted 'thorough' organization & collective bargaining to secure shorter hours & higher wages, the first essential steps, he believed, to emancipating labor. He also encouraged the AFofL to take political action to 'elect their friends' & 'defeat their enemies.' During World War I, Gompers & the AFofL openly supported the war effort, attempting to avoid strikes & boost morale while raising wage rates & expanding membership.

Right click image to enlarge.

January 27, 1850 - Birth of Samuel Gompers [1850-1924] in London (England). "Born into a Jewish family which originally hailed from Amsterdam (Netherlands). When he was six, Samuel was sent to the Jewish Free School where he received a basic education. His elementary school career was brief, however, as a mere three months after his 10th birthday, Gompers was removed from school & sent to work as an apprentice cigarmaker to help earn money for his impoverished family. Gompers was able to continue his studies in night school, however, during which time he learned Hebrew & studied the Talmud, a process which he long later recalled was akin to studying law. While familiar with the ancient Hebrew language, Gompers did not speak & held a lifelong disdain for Yiddish."

1863 - "Owing to dire financial straits, the Gompers family immigrated to the United States in 1863, settling on Manhattan's Lower East Side in New York City. Gompers' father was engaged in the manufacture of cigars at home, assisted for the first year and half by Samuel. In his free time, the young teenager formed a debate club with his friends, an activity which provided practical experience in public speaking & parliamentary procedure. The club drew Gompers into contact with other upwardly mobile young men of the city, including a young Irish-American named Peter J. McGuire [1852-1906] who would later play a large role in the AFofL. In 1864, at the age of 14, Gompers joined & became involved in the activities of Cigarmakers' Local Union No. 15, the English-speaking union of cigar makers in New York City."

U N I O N

December 8, 1886 - Founding of the American Federation of Labor (AFofL) at a convention in Columbus, Ohio (USA). "Gompers had helped found the Federation of Organized Trades & Labor Unions in 1881 as a coalition of like-minded unions. In 1886, it was reorganized into the AFofL, with Gompers as its president. He would remain president of the organization until his death (with the exception of one year, 1895)."

C L O C K

About 1906 - Clock permanently set at 8:00, Union Printers Home, 101 South Union Boulevad, Colorado Springs, Colorado (USA). The International Typographical Union (ITU) built this sanitarium in 1892, won the eight hour day in 1906, and then permanently set the clock on the sanitarium tower at 8:00 o'clock. /// The ITU was the largest & stongest union within the AFofL.

H O U S E

Early 1920's - Home of Samuel Gompers, 1527 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, DC (USA). Near DuPont Circle. "The Richardsonian Romanesque building (originally two separate residences, 1527 and 1529, until the 1940's) was designed by noted architect Thomas Franklin Schneider in 1889. Notable owners (including those who occupied 1529) have included Benjamin West Blanchard (Colonel, General Traffic Manager of the Erie Railroad), government of Argentina (legation), Chenoweth Boarding School for Young Ladies (finishing school), George C. Remey (Mason Remey lived there as well), Samuel Gompers, Carter Glass, government of Ecuador (legation), government of Britain (office of the air attaché), American War Mothers (national headquarters), Harry Augustus Garfield & the Association of Research Libraries (headquarters). Today's occupants are the American Political Science Association headquarters, Pi Sigma Alpha headquarters & Phi Beta Delta Society."

D E A T H

December 13, 1924 - Death of Samuel Gompers [1850-1924], San Antonio, Tesas (USA). "Gompers collapsed in Mexico City on Saturday, December 6, 1924, while attending a meeting of the Pan-American Federation of Labor. It was recognized that his condition was critical & that he might not survive for long. Gompers expressed the desire to die on American soil. He was placed aboard a special train which sped toward the border, and he died in San Antonio. Image show monument erected in San Antonio in 1980 (qv).

G R A V E

About 1925 - Grave of Samuel Gompers [1850-1924], Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York. Gompers is buried only a few yards away from industrialist & peacemaker Andrew Carnegie [1835-1919], another important figure of industry in the Gilded Age."

P A R K

1929 - Gompers Park, Chicago, Illinois (USA). On NW side of the city. "A friend and I were biking down Foster Ave. one sunny afternoon and saw some trees, & we found a little gem. And on Labor Day weekend, no doubt! We chilled on the north side of the pond, & I couldn't believe that the road was 300 feet away. Such a great little spot to relax & get away from the stress of the city." /// The life-size statue of Gompers was unveiled in 2007 (qv).

M E M O R I A L

1933 - Gompers Memorial, Samuel Gompers Memorial Park (Square), Massachusetts Avenue (near 11th Street), NW, Washington, DC (USA). Just NW of the Washington Convention Center. A bronze monument honoring Gompers by the sculptor Robert Aitken. Left panel says, "So long as we have held fast to voluntary principles and have been actuated and inspired by the spirit of service, we have sustained our forward progress, and we have made our labor movement something to be respected and accorded a place in the councils of the Republic. Where we have blundered into trying to force a policy or decision, even though wise and right, we have impeded if not interrupted the realization of our own aims." /// Right panel says, "No lasting gain has ever come from compulsion. If we seek to force, we but tear apart that which united, is invincible. There is no way whereby our labor movement may be assured sustained progress in determining its policies and its plans other than sincere democratic deliberation until a unanimous decision is reached. This may seem a cumbrous, slow method to the impatient, but the impatient are more concerned for immediate triumph than for the education of constructive development."

S C H O O L

1933 - Samuel Gompers Industrial High School for Boys, Wales Avenue & East 145th Street, New York City, New York (USA). "In place of the steps & porticoed doorway we would expect at the front of a 1930's high school, we’re met at street level with an iron gate & truck-wide driveway. It leads through the front wall into a courtyard, not planted but paved. (Originally, large workshops opened onto it.) From either side, twin six-storey towers survey the yard. A tall square brick chimney shamelessly pokes up at the rear. Outside again, a walk around the corners, past block-long brick walls with repeating columns of narrow windows, will confirm the impression: This school is meant to look like a factory... As Gompers was built, American admirers were echoing Le Corbusier’s notorious dictum 'A house is a machine for living in.' with the proposition that a school 'must be to a certain extent, industrial in character as it is a machine for education.'"

H O U S I N G

April 30, 1964 - Samuel Gompers Houses, Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York (USA). Two, 20-story buildings with 474 apartments housing an estimated 1,116 people. The 3.7-acre site is between Delancey, Pitt & Stanton Streets.

H O U S I N G

Date? - Samuel Gompers Homes, East St. Louis, Illinois (USA).

N A V Y

July 1, 1967 - USS Samuel Gompers (AD-37), Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington (USA). Gompers also had a US Navy support ship [image] & a class of US Navy destroyer tenders named for him.

M E M O R I A L 1980 - Samuel Gompers Memorial, near River Walk, San Antonio, Texas (USA). Across from Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. The first labor monument in San Antonio. Dedicated by Cesar E. Chavez; Lane Kirkland, AFL-CIO National President; Mayor Henry Cisneros; Jaime Martinez & others. Samuel Gompers [1850-1924] died in San Antonio on December 13, 1924, while en route home by train after collapsing in Mexico City on December 6.

S T A T U E

September 3, 2007 - A life-size statue of Gompers was unveiled at Gompers Park which is on the northwest side of Chicago. Gompers Park was named after the labor leader in 1929. This is the first statue of a labor leader in Chicago. Local unions throughout Chicago donated their time and money to build the monument.