{"id":98,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:48:35","latitude":38.295219000000003006789484061300754547119140625,"longitude":-85.830004000000002406522980891168117523193359375,"title":"The Economic Panic of 1873 and Labor Relations in New Albany","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/7c2438107a22d864450ca719e6339ec7.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":14,"creator":["John Slack","Mary K. Marlatt","Benjamin Gies","Ellis Cassity"],"description":"By the early 1870s, New Albany became a bustling river town with extensive commercial activity and a large number of industrial facilities.  Nationwide economic trends disrupted New Albany’s economic prosperity.  The Great Panic of 1873 swept across the nation.  Once referred to as the “Great Depression,&quot; it caused over 18,000 businesses to fail between 1873 and 1875.  Employers cut wages, property values dropped, and profits vanished. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe depression did not immediately hurt New Albany.  Local newspapers boasted that the city escaped the rough economic times and that no businesses experienced much trouble despite the reports of hardship elsewhere.   As the effects of the depression crept into New Albany, the 1870s became uncertain for workers and their employers.  Fearing possible losses in wages and limits on their rights as workers, trade unions of iron molders, glass blowers, boil makers, and shoemakers formed.   <br />\r\n<br />\r\nGrowing tensions between employers and employees led to strikes throughout the 1870s.  In July 1871, blowers at the New Albany Glass Works walked out to protest the business practices of their employer.  They demanded payment in defined wages rather than payment based on production.  Already in financial trouble, the glass works refused to meet workers’ demands.  The plant lay empty until 1875, when it burned down.  In contrast to the New Albany Glass Works, Washington C. DePauw’s Star Glass Works sought to negotiate with workers.  In 1877 after a group of English workers protested the debt incurred from their transatlantic passage from Britain to the United States, DePauw forgave their debt.  This resulted in a forty percent rise in their wages, keeping workers satisfied and production strong.   <br />\r\n<br />\r\nMany other strikes ensued with varying success.  The New Albany press and other members of the business and political communities looked down upon unions.  To ease the stress of the era, New Albany workers held “Have – Nothing” carnivals.  At these celebrations, the unemployed and strikers “[mixed] a little fun with their poverty.”  Filled with drink and song, workers wore ragged costumes to mock their depressing economic conditions.  Parodies of politicians and businessmen caused crowds to roar with laughter.   <br />\r\n<br />\r\nToday a variety of unions are represented in New Albany, including the Laborers International and the International Brotherhood of Barbers.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":[],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/7c2438107a22d864450ca719e6339ec7.jpg":{"id":876,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Aerial View of New Albany","description":"New Albany shown in 1850s,<br />\r\nImage courtesy of New Albany-Floyd County Public Library Digital Collection. <br />\r\n | New Albany-Floyd County Public Library  | 1850s  | Charles Bruder ","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/7c2438107a22d864450ca719e6339ec7.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/5b32397b9a8c87fe969d70fd44677af6.jpg":{"id":875,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Panic of 1873","description":"<em>Harper&rsquo;s Weekly</em> announced the Panic of 1873 with this image, which shows President Ulysses S. Grant helping Lady Liberty out of the ruins of Wall Street. Although the effects of the disaster did not reach New Albany right away, workers and employers felt the consequences for years to come.<br />Image courtesy of&nbsp;<em>Harper's Weekly,&nbsp;</em>HarpWeek, LLC.&nbsp; | Harper&#039;s Weekly, accessed through HarpWeek, LLC., digital archives.  | October 18, 1873 | Harper&#039;s Weekly","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/5b32397b9a8c87fe969d70fd44677af6.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/fa6cb58bf6b28d8a68bc99212e100a80.jpg":{"id":877,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"New Albany Glass Blowers","description":"New Albany glass blowers pose with tools in hand in a photo taken in 1888.<br />\r\nImage courtesy of New Albany-Floyd County Public Library Digital Archive. <br />\r\n | New Albany-Floyd County Public Library Digital Archives.  | 1888","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/fa6cb58bf6b28d8a68bc99212e100a80.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/773f41076bdbb515bd03c085e0b46d76.jpg":{"id":879,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Union Hall","description":"Laborers International Union of North America Local 795  remains part of New Albany&#039;s social landscape.<br />\r\nImage courtesy of Mary K. Marlatt.  | Mary K. Marlatt | 2013 | Mary K. Marlatt","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/773f41076bdbb515bd03c085e0b46d76.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/e735bb34188c58919ba6b2716e46924c.jpg":{"id":880,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Union Hall","description":"The Laborers International Union Hall Local 795 is located at 1213 State Street. This image was taken in 1988.<br />\r\nImage courtesy of New Albany-Floyd County Library Digital Collections.  | New Albany-Floyd County Library Digital Collections | 1988","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/e735bb34188c58919ba6b2716e46924c.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/6b6023a51eadead70ccaf0cf01c5f18c.jpg":{"id":1115,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Ohio Falls Iron Works","description":"One of the worst episodes of labor strife occurred at the Ohio Falls Iron Works, one of the largest iron manufacturers in the West. When managers attempted to impose a 20 percent wage cut in 1874, workers struck, prompting a standoff that lasted for several months.<br />\r\nImage courtesy of Industies of Louiville, Kentucky, and of New Albany, Indiana (Louisville: J. M. Elstner and Co., 1886), p. 238. | <em>Industies of Louiville, Kentucky, an</em><em>d of New Albany, Indiana</em> (Louisville: J. M. Elstner and Co., 1886), p. 238. | 1886","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/6b6023a51eadead70ccaf0cf01c5f18c.jpg"}}}