Statue of Peter J. McGuire in Arlington Cemetery.

Peter J. McGuire 1852-1906 Peter J. McGuire was a founder of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and was First Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Labor.  He is credited with proposing the first Labor Day celebration, which was held in New York in 1882.  It became a national holiday in 1894, when Grover Cleveland signed it into law. McGuire's birthplace has been listed as Dublin, Philadelphia, or New York, depending on which source you read.  His final days were spent in Camden, NJ, and he is buried in Arlington Cemetery in Pennsauken, NJ.

Carpenters' Union History
http://www.carpentersunionbc.com/Pages/history.html

The First Labor Day
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/sep05.html

The History of Labor Day
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm

How labor won its day
http://detnews.com/history/labor/labor.htm

ILHS Union Hall of Honor, 1986
http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/1986.htm

Read about Peter J. McGuire in ...

Bernhardt, Debra E. and Rachel Bernstein.  Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives: A Pictorial History of Working People in New York City.  New York: NYU Press, 2000.

O'Donnell, L.A.  Irish Voice and Organized Labor in America: A Biographical Study.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997.  (Contributions in Labor Studies, No. 49)

Copyright © 2001-2005 by BJ Swartz. Permission is granted to use the photo as long as it is not for profit and not for reproduction in a publication without credit. If you do use a photo, I'd just like to know and would appreciate it if you would send a donation to St. Paul's Food Basket. Thanks! 

BJ Swartz
kelta@keltaskavern.com
Created 28 June 2003, updated June 6, 2007