History

Time Travel to Labor Day in Brooklyn 1887

For the busy Brooklynite looking for something to do on Labor Day 1887, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle printed a list of engaging events.

Above, the U.S. International Tennis Players of 1895. Photo via The Library of Congress

by Susan De Vries

09/05/2016 0

For the busy Brooklynite looking for something to do on Labor Day 1887, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle printed a list of engaging events on Sunday, September 4 — an events link for the 19th century. In addition to noting that “the Labor Day parade, which takes place tomorrow, will be the largest of its kind which has ever taken place in this city, weather permitting,” the front-page article highlighted other Brooklyn festivities to mark the holiday.

Labor Day history NYC — The first Labor Day parade and rally took place in Union Square in Manhattan in 1882. Illustration via Wikipedia

Among the highlights:
*The Journeyman Butcher’s Protective Union hosted an afternoon of games — no indication on whether participants were required to bring their own meat cleavers.
*The annual festival of the Brooklyn Turn Verein. Don’t know what that is? A real 19th century Brooklynite would.
*A promise of “useful and ornamental” prizes to be won might have tempted you to enter the Brooklyn Lawn Tennis Club tournament. (Above, the national women’s tennis team of 1895.)
*The intriguingly named Prospect Harriers and Nassau Wheelmen hosted an athletic and cycling tournament. Whether it involved the runners racing the cyclists is unclear.