The Waterfront - History

History

From its storied past, only smokestacks remain on the site that once helped to give Pittsburgh the name "Steel City."

In 2005, Industrial Workers of the World celebrated their 100th Anniversary, having formed in 1905 out of the palpable labor struggles of that era. The local celebration included events held at the Pump House on the site of The Waterfront. http://www.iww.org/en/taxonomy/term/244/all?page=2

The Pump House is the location of the landing of the Pinkertons who navigated the river in 1892 with the intention of busting up a labor strike of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers at the instruction of Henry Clay Frick. The battle that followed, known as the Homestead Strike / Battle of Homestead, left sixteen people dead (23 wounded) and set back the cause of organizing the iron and steel industry in Pittsburgh for decades. The Battle of Homestead is one of the most noted strikes in American Labor History.

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