09/07/2026
Did you know the American Federation of Labor was formed in Columbus? This historical marker on South Fourth Street, next to the Holiday Inn, sits at the AFL's founding site.
In late 1886, Knights of Labor assemblies here in Columbus had grown frustrated with their national leadership and with Knights members crossing craft union picket lines. They called a meeting for December 10 at a hall on South Fourth Street downtown.
Samuel Gompers was heading the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, a group of craft unions that hadn't met in more than two years. He saw the Columbus call and scheduled his own organization into the same building on the same day. When almost none of his delegates turned up, he folded his federation into the larger room.
The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions merged with the trade unionists assembled there to form the American Federation of Labor. Gompers was elected its first president and served until his death in 1924.
The AFL became one of the first lasting labor federations in the United States, and in 1955 it merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations to form the AFL-CIO, which is still in operation today.
Columbus has deep roots in the early American labor movement, and the AFL wasn't the only national organization founded here. In 1890, the United Mine Workers of America was formed a few blocks away at the old City Hall on Capitol Square.
Nearly 140 years later, this is still a city that runs on skilled trades — the crews on job sites across the region and the people staffing the manufacturing plants and distribution centers that keep freight moving through Central Ohio and across the country.
Wishing everyone a safe and happy Labor Day!
