Pittsburgh railroad strike of 1877
The Pittsburgh railway strike occurred in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as part of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. It was one of many incidents of strikes, labor unrest and violence in cities across the United States, including several in Pennsylvania. Other cities dealing with similar unrest included Philadelphia, Reading, Shamokin and Scranton. The incidents followed repeated reductions in wages and sometimes increases in workload by railroad companies, during a period of economic recession following the Panic of 1873.
Burning of Union Depot at Pittsburgh
Birds-eye-view of Pittsburgh, c. 1877, with the Monongahela River in foreground
Sheriff Fife calling on the Pittsburgh rioters to disperse
Mob marching to the scene of the action
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the "Long Depression" that weakened the country's economic leadership. In the United States, the Panic was known as the "Great Depression" until the events of 1929 and the early 1930s set a new standard.
A bank run on the Fourth National Bank No. 20 Nassau Street, New York City, from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 4 October 1873
Black Friday, 9 May 1873, Vienna Stock Exchange
New York police violently attacking unemployed workers in Tompkins Square Park, 1874