First Labor Strike in Two Rivers Was in 1895

HUBERT R. WENTORF PHOTO COLLECTION, LESTER PUBLIC LIBRARY; Two Rivers Manufacturing Company workers on strike gathered in front of Turner Hall in 1895. The sign reads WE WANT A CASH PAY DAY.

The first labor strike in the history of Two Rivers occurred 130 years ago when nearly all the employees in the mills and factories of the Two Rivers Manufacturing Company quit work from August 29 to September 8, 1895. The woodenware firm, owned and operated by Milwaukee’s Mann Bros. (Joseph, Henry and Leopold), was the largest tub and pail factory in the world.

The strike followed months of negotiations over the key demand that workers be paid in cash, not company scrip that had to be spent at the Mann Bros. general store. This benefitted the company as all of its wages were quickly paid back with a margin of profit. The men wanted the right to spend their wages at any store of their choosing without the penalty of losing their job.

During the financial panic of 1893 and the depression that followed, the company began to pay about 80% of workers’ wages in scrip that was only redeemable for merchandise at the Mann’s store. The company hoped to give the men more money once economic conditions improved.

The company store had been started many years earlier as a convenience for workers when there were not many general stores in Two Rivers. It carried a variety of goods and was located on the corner of Washington Street and Smith Avenue (now 15th Street). The site was later a Montgomery Ward company store and is now a Starbucks coffee shop.

After workers’ demands were rejected, about 300 men from the tub and pail factory and sawmill quit work at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 29, and marched through town, inducing others to join them. Some workers at the pail factory were members of the recently organized local branch of the Wood Workers of America.

Later in the day, the men went to the company’s chair factory, where most marched with them. The workers were mostly Germans, born and raised in Two Rivers. Others were Irish, Poles, Bohemians and Danes.

From six to eight hundred workers marched in a Labor Day parade, led by the Union Coronet Band, on September 2. Many carried banners and ‘Cash Pay Day’ signs. Most of the working population of the city agreed with the workers, including those from the Hamilton Mfg. Co., Aluminum Mfg. Co. and Eggers Veneer Seating Co., besides other shopmen and tradesmen.

After the parade, the strikers met at Voshardt’s hall on Jefferson Street where they were addressed by Adolph Wittmann, editor of the German independent newspaper Manitowoc Post; Harry Kress, editor of the weekly Republican newspaper Manitowoc Times-Press; and Rev. John N. Davidson, pastor of Congregational church – all advised moderation and the continued observance of law and order. As more workers joined the strike, meetings were held at Turner Hall on Cedar Street (today’s location of the post office on 17th Street).

News of the strike appeared in the columns of papers across the state. The Milwaukee Journal was the only Wisconsin paper that sent a “special man” to report on the strike.

The 11-day strike in Two Rivers was peaceful. Workers marched through town regularly twice each day without incident. There was no drunkenness or disorderly conduct. Groups of workers policed the saloons and turned away workmen from other towns at the railroad depot and docks to prevent any serious trouble.

On Saturday, September 8, the strike ended. The settlement was amicable and both sides compromised. The company agreed to begin a monthly cash pay system to settle the wages of men by December 20 (workers wished the system to begin in October, while the company wanted the following March). No man was to be discharged from the company as a result of taking part in the strike or buying supplies at another store in town. Workers did not ask for any increase in pay and did not demand that the company store close.

Once the agreement was reached, workers marched to the home of Leopold Mann where they gave him three hearty cheers to show their regard and confidence in him. Mann came to Two Rivers in 1862 and was local manager of the company until his death in 1901.

With the strike over, workers returned to the pail and chair factories and Two Rivers was again a ‘Busy Hive of Industry.’