Milwaukee's mayor looks back on the Bay View Riot of 1886

Bay View Labor Riot of 1886


When several thousand Milwaukee workers marched toward the Bay View Rolling Mills on May 5, 1886, advocating an 8-hour work day, the state militia opened fire on the unarmed crowd and killed seven people. This six-page article from the Milwaukee Free Press 25 years later reviews those events, shows photographs from the day, and includes a long reminiscence by Emil Wallber, who was mayor of Milwaukee at the time of the demonstration. His memories given here do not always agree with the state's official report written at the time (given elsewhere on the Turning Points site).


Related Topics: The Progressive Era
The Birth of the Labor Movement
Creator: anonymous
Pub Data: Milwaukee Free Press, July 3, 1910.
Citation: "Bay View Labor Riot of 1886." Milwaukee Free Press, July 3, 1910. Online facsimile at:  http://wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=933; Visited on: 4/26/2024