On this day in 1919, Winston-Salem threw the first large scale Labor Day celebration in the city’s history. Principal events included a parade, a band concert and many speeches. Participation in the events was increased by the closing of the industrial plants. And, the merchantile houses were closed for most of the day.
According to an account in the newspaper the following day, ten thousand people attended the parade. Most of the attendees belonged to the many local labor unions that were represented in the parade.
Chief of Police J. A. Thomas and Sheriff George W. Flynt led the parade, followed by automobiles carrying Mayor R. W. Gorrell, members of the Board of Aldermen, and the speakers for the event. Crouse’s Concert Band followed the automobiles.
Representatives of the local unions came next: International Typographical Union, International Association of Machinists, Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, International Molders Union, Brotherhoods of Carpenters and Joiners (second largest group), Painters, Plumbers and Steam Fitters, Electrical Workers, Box Makers, Railway Clerks, Textile Workers of America, and Tobacco Workers of America (largest group).
More automobiles and floats followed, with a special mention of the attractive floats for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and the Hanes Hosiery Mills. Each division of workers was headed by an official banner and an American flag.
A band concert by Crouse’s Band preceded the addresses, and the band also played between the speeches.
Addresses were delivered by Rowland H. Latham, superintendent of Winston-Salem public schools, and James A. Gray, vice-president and treasurer of Wachovia Bank and Trust Company and N. C. State Senator. J. F. Barrett, editor of the Asheville Advocate, was scheduled to speak, but his brother delivered the address in his brother’s absence due to illness. Other talks were delivered by labor representatives. The newspaper carried the text of many of the speeches.
The newspaper report of the celebration mentioned that “splendid order prevailed throughout the day and the best of feeling existed between everyone.”
For some people, Labor Day was a working day. The Winston-Salem tobacco market opened the following day, and all during the afternoon and evening the tobacco wagons and automobiles streamed into the city. Farmers delivered their tobacco to the warehouses, where workers put the tobacco into baskets, in preparation for the sale that would begin early the following morning.
The tobacco warehouses involved in the market were Piedmont, Gorrell’s, Brown’s and Farmer’s. Pepper’s Warehouse was still under construction and would open the following week, and the new Brown’s Warehouse was scheduled to open before the end of September.
Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September, so it occurs on different dates each year. It just happened to fall on the same day in 2014 as in 1919. Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894.
