About Us

Wisconsin’s most historic and bloody labor incident occurred on May 5, 1886 on the shores of Lake Michigan in the Bay View area of Milwaukee. That day dawned after four days of massive worker demonstrations throughout Milwaukee on behalf of the creation of eight-hour day laws..

As some 1,500 workers marched toward the Bay View Rolling Mills (then the area’s biggest manufacturer) urging the workers thereto join the marches, the State Militia lined up on a hill, guns poised.  The marchers were ordered to stop form some 200 yards away; when they didn’t, the militiamen fired into the crowd, killing seven persons.

The marchers dispersed and the eight-hour days marches ended. The incident, in spite of its immediate end to eight-hour day efforts, spurred workers and their families to look forward to build a more progressive society in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.

Each year, more than 200 persons gather, under the sponsorship of the Wisconsin Labor History Society, at the Bay View Rolling Mills historical marker site at S. Superior St. and E. Russell Ave. in Milwaukee to commemorate this incident. 

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137th Anniversary Commemoration Bay View Tragedy

Remembering the seven who died while marching

for the 8-hour day on May 5, 1886

Commemoration Date: 3 p.m ., Sunday, May 7th.

Location: Bay View Rolling Mill historical marker site at the corner of S. Superior St. and E. Russell Ave. in the Bay View neighborhood on Milwaukee’s lakefront.

Program

Raging Grannies Sing-Along

Re-enactment of 1886 Massacre, featuring larger-than-life-sized puppets, professional actors reading speeches

Music by Craig Siemsen, folksinger; Jahmes Finlayson, percussion

Remarks: Alan Chavoya, American Federation of Teachers Local 212

Wreath-laying / Readings of names of massacre victims