Editing East St. Louis, Illinois (section)

===Great Railroad Strike of 1877===
{{main|Great Railroad Strike of 1877}}
Extensive industrial growth followed the [[American Civil War]], helped by the city's proximity to [[Illinois Basin#Coal|coal mines in Illinois]]. Early industry included [[meatpacking]] and [[Feedlot|stockyards]], concentrated in one area to limit their nuisance to other jurisdictions.

Many businessmen became overextended in credit, and a major economic collapse followed the [[Panic of 1873]]. This was due to railroad and other manufacturing expansion, land speculation, and general business optimism caused by large profits from inflation. The economic recession began in the East and steadily moved West, crippling the railroads, the main system of transportation. In response, railroad companies began dramatically lowering workers' wages, forcing employees to work without pay, and cutting jobs and paid work hours. These wage cuts and additional money-saving tactics prompted strikes and massive unrest.

While most of the strikes in the eastern cities during 1877 were accompanied by violence, the late July 1877 [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]] strike was marked by a bloodless and quick takeover by dissatisfied workers. By July 22, the [[1877 St. Louis general strike|St. Louis Commune]] began to take shape, as representatives from almost all the railroad lines met in East St. Louis. They soon elected an executive committee to command the strike and issued General Order No. 1, halting all railroad traffic other than passenger and mail trains.  [[John Bowman (mayor)|John Bowman]], the mayor of East St. Louis, was appointed arbitrator of the committee. He helped the committee select special police to guard the property of the railroads from damage. The strike and the new ''de facto'' workers' government, while given encouragement by the largely [[German-American]] [[Workingmen's Party]] and the [[Knights of Labor]] (two key players in the organization of the Missouri general strike), were run by no organized labor group.

The strike also closed packing industry houses surrounding the National Stock Yards. At one plant, workers allowed processing of 125 cattle in return for 500 cans of beef for the workers. Though the East St. Louis strike continued in an orderly fashion, across the river in St. Louis there were isolated incidents of violence. Harry Eastman, the East St. Louis workers' representative, addressed the mass of employees:

{{blockquote|Go home to your different wards and organize your different unions, but don't keep coming up here in great bodies and stirring up excitement. Ask the Mayor, as we did, to close up all the saloons&nbsp;... keep sober and orderly, and when you are organized, apply to the United Workingmen for orders. Don't plunder&nbsp;... don't interfere with the railroads here&nbsp;... let us attend to that.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Burbank|first1=David T.|title=Reign of the Rabble: The St. Louis General Strike of 1877|date=1966|page=74}}</ref>}}

The strikers held the railroads and city for about a week, without the violence that took place in Chicago and other cities.  The federal government intervened, and on July 28 US troops took over the Relay Depot, the Commune's command center, and the strike ended peacefully.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.riverweb.uiuc.edu/IBEX/IDOT/idot23.htm |title=Industrialization |access-date=2006-09-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060906175710/http://www.riverweb.uiuc.edu/IBEX/IDOT/idot23.htm |archive-date=September 6, 2006 |df=mdy-all |publisher=University of Illinois |location=Urbana-Champaign}}</ref>