Windber Strike of 1922-23

Somerset County, PA

Marker Text: Windber-area Berwind White workers joined a national strike by United Mine Workers of America in April 1922 for improved wages and working conditions, civil liberties, and recognition. The strike lasted 16 months; families of strikers were evicted from company housing. A City of New York inquiry exposed deplorable living and working conditions and urged nationalization of coal mines.

Location:  On Graham Avenue (PA Route 160) and between 13th & 15th Streets in Miner's Park, Windber, Pennsylvania in Somerset County across from the Arcadia Theater near prior marker post “Windber.” Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 2003.

"We are no longer slaves and we are done loading three ton for two. We will never return under a scab system. We want union to protect our rights."
Striking miners at Windber, April 10, 1922

  Similar to my prior posts about the Battle of Blair Mountain and William Blizzard in West Virginia other conflicts between miners and coal companies occurred throughout the U.S. in the early 20^th century. A year after the Battle of Blair Mountain, miners in Windber, PA went on strike in 1922 to gain union recognition, preserve their pay rates, and have coal that they dug weighed accurately so they would be paid fairly by the ton.

Marker is in Miner’s Park the old train station in background, now a visitor’s center.  Click any photo to enlarge.

  These men were part of a much larger, national strike. Coal operators and the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) had agreed in 1919 to wage increases and other gains for workers, however, when the contract expired on March 31, 1922, coal operators were determined to roll back any gains. No agreement could be reached, so John L. Lewis, president of the UMWA, led some 610,000 miners out on strike during the first week of April, 1922. This was the first national strike by both anthracite and bituminous miners. The nonunion miners in Windber also fought for the right to have the UMWA bargain collectively for them and to end the autocratic control that the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company had over the mines and the community of Windber.

  UMWA leaders knew that having nonunion miners turn out was critical to winning the strike and the mostly immigrant miners in Windber wanted union help to win union recognition and curb owners power. Most of the miners in Somerset County are Poles, Russians, Slovaks, Hungarians, with a few Welsh and very few Irish. Many of them have been there for many years. In some instances, two generations have been working in these mines and the second generation is just as poor as was the first.

William Blizzard

Kanawha County, WV

Marker Text: Born in Kanawha County on 19 September 1892. Began work as miner at age ten, and served as field organizer, UMWA. Noted as leader of 1921 Armed March. Indicted for treason but later acquitted. President of District 17 and vice-president of West Virginia Federation of Labor. Retired to Putnam County farm in 1955. Died on 31 July 1958.

Location: In front of UMWA District 17 headquarters, 1300 Kanawha Boulevard East, Charleston, WV. Erected by the West Virginia Division of Archives and History in 2007.

  West Virginia coal miners of the early part of the 20^th century often looked to a brash young man named William Blizzard for leadership. Blizzard was an outspoken leader whose name is associated with some of the bloodiest confrontations of West Virginia's mine wars. William Blizzard achieved national prominence as a young man of 29 after the Battle of Blair Mountain, in which miners fought a pitched battle against sheriff's deputies and armed guards.

Marker in front of UMWA District 17 headquarters in Charleston, WV.  Click any photo to enlarge.

  Unionist William ‘‘Bill’’ Blizzard was born September 19, 1892, the son of Timothy Blizzard and activist Sarah Rebecca ‘‘Mother’’ Blizzard. He became one of West Virginia’s most influential and controversial labor leaders of the 20^th century. Born in the Cabin Creek district of Kanawha County, Blizzard first became involved with the United Mine Workers of America during the bloody Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike of 1912–13. During the next decade, he rose from the rank and file along with Frank Keeney and Fred Mooney.

  In 1921, Blizzard played a key role in the Miners’ March on Logan County by leading the miners in the front lines of the Battle of Blair Mountain. While District 17 President Keeney and Secretary-treasurer Mooney managed events behind the scenes.

Battle of Blair Mountain

Logan County, WV

Marker Text: In August of 1921, 7000 striking miners led by Bill Blizzard met at Marmet for a march on Logan to organize the southern coalfields for the UMWA. Reaching Blair Mt. on August 31, they were repelled by deputies and mine guards, under Sheriff Don Chafin, waiting in fortified positions. The five-day battle ended with the arrival of U. S. Army and Air Corps. UMWA organizing efforts in southern WV were halted until 1933. "

Location: On WV Route 17, approximately 8 miles east of Logan between Ethel and Blair, WV. Erected by WV Celebration 2000, West Virginia Division of Archives and History in 2002.

  From 2002-2008, I lived in Logan County, WV and I often heard of the stories about the Battle of Blair Mountain from local residents. From the mid-1800's residents in the area knew coal existed in the mountains of Logan County, but it was not until the railroad came to the county in 1904 was it possible to mine the coal for commercial use. Once the railroads made it possible to remove the coal to needed markets the coal business in Logan County took off and the population increased with men seeking employment in the coal mines.

  Prior to the construction of the four lane highway, U.S. Route 119 (or as the locals call it Corridor G) from Logan to Charleston, WV, the only way to travel to Charleston was to go over Blair Mountain on WV Route 17. Traveling over Blair Mountain is not the most difficult mountain road crossing a person can make in West Virginia, but you definitely know you are going over a mountain as you travel the road.

Photo taken looking south on Route 17 toward Logan County. This is where you would go up Blair Mountain from the north.  Click any photo to enlarge.

  The details about the Battle of Blair Mountain, including the events in the coal mines that lead to this confrontation, the lives of the miners, the struggle for unions and the political conditions at the time are so extensive, I cannot possibility cover them in my post on this marker. So I will only give a general description of the events here. If you want to learn more a simple search on the internet, using a search engine, like Google or Bing will give you many links about the details with many interesting photos. A web site by the West Virginia Archives and History has several links to articles about the Battle of Blair Mountain.

Windber

Somerset County, PA

Marker Text: Founded 1897 by the Berwind-White Coal Mining Co. Distinctive among bituminous coal towns, this community had a large independent center surrounded by 13 "patch towns." Among notable structures built by Berwind-White were the Wilmore Building here (1914) and Arcadia Theatre across the street (1919). Thousands of immigrants came across here to work the mines; largest in output was Eureka Mine #40, 2 miles NW. Company mining ceased, 1962

Location: At the intersection of Graham Avenue (Pennsylvania Route 160) and 15th Street near street address, 501 15th St., Windber. Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1999.

  Today's marker I discovered while specifically looking for markers about Alan Freed and Johnny Weissmuller, both whom lived here during their childhood. On the same street there were two other markers. I did not know anything about “Windber” and the other marker the “Windber Strike of 1922-23” before my visit.

  Windber is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, eight miles south of Johnstown. It was at one time a place of industrial activities which included coal mining, lumber, and the manufacture of fire brick. In 1897, the community was founded as a company town by Charles and Edward Julius Berwind owners of the Berwind Corporation based in Philadelphia, PA.