Homestead
Item
Title
Homestead
Creator
Thaddeus M. Fowler
American, 1843–1922
Published by T. M. Fowler & James B. Moyer
American, 1843–1922
Published by T. M. Fowler & James B. Moyer
Date
1902
Materials
Color lithograph
Measurements
22 x 32-7/16 in. (55.9 x 82.4 cm)
Description
Homestead, located about seven miles south of Pittsburgh on the Monongahela River, was home to the Homestead Steel Works, the smoking conglomeration of buildings located here in the upper left, along the banks of the river. In the summer of 1892, the steel mill, owned by Andrew Carnegie and run, as were all of his operations, by Henry Clay Frick, became the site of one of the most violent labor confrontations in U. S. History. When striking workers, angered over a proposed cut in wages, threatened to close the plant, Frick hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to keep the mill running. When the Pinkerton agents arrived, they were met with gunfire, which sparked an extended armed conflict that resulted in the death of nine strikers and seven Pinkertons.
The infamous Homestead Strike did little to dampen the plant’s production or the growth of the town (though it did in the end break the steelworkers union—the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers). At the time this lithograph was produced, some 13,000 people lived in Homestead, with about 7,000 of the residents working in the mill. By 1940, the population reached nearly 20,000; but many of these were displaced during the Second World War in order to house the 15,000 laborers needed in the plant to produce steel for the war effort.
The infamous Homestead Strike did little to dampen the plant’s production or the growth of the town (though it did in the end break the steelworkers union—the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers). At the time this lithograph was produced, some 13,000 people lived in Homestead, with about 7,000 of the residents working in the mill. By 1940, the population reached nearly 20,000; but many of these were displaced during the Second World War in order to house the 15,000 laborers needed in the plant to produce steel for the war effort.
Source
Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, partial gift and purchase from John C. O’Connor and Ralph M. Yeager.
Identifier
86.467
Rights
This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted.