Birth date in Coshocton, Ohio of William Green, a coal miner who was to succeed Samuel Gompers as president of the American Federation of Labor, serving in the role from 1924 to 1952. He held the post until his death, to be succeeded by George Meany - 1873

Twenty people, including at least nine firefighters, are killed in Boston’s worst fire. It consumed 65 downtown acres and 776 buildings over 12 hours - 1872

Unions legalized in Canada - 1872

Trade Union Act Legalizes Unions in Canada as result of Toronto Typographical Union Strike - 1872

Toronto printers strike for the 9-hour day in what is believed to be Canada’s first major strike - 1872

Thirty of the city's 185 firefighters are injured battling the Great Chicago Fire, which burned for three days - 1871

Leonora O’Reilly was born in New York. The daughter of Irish immigrants, she began working in a factory at 11, joined the Knights of Labor at 16, and was a volunteer investigator of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911. She was a founding member of the Woman’s Trade Union League - 1870

Knights of Labor founded. Constitution bars from membership “parasites,” including stockbrokers and lawyers - 1869

214 African American delegates meet in Washington, D.C., to form the Colored National Labor Union as a branch of the all-white National Labor Union created three years earlier. Unlike the NLU, the CNLU welcomed members of all races. Isaac Myers was the CNLU's founding president; Frederick Douglas became president in 1872 - 1869

One of the worst disasters in the history of U.S. anthracite mining occurred at the Avondale Mine, near Scranton, Pa., when a fire originating from a furnace at the bottom of a 237 foot shaft roared up the shaft, killing 110 miners - 1869

Women shoemakers in Lynn, Mass. create Daughters of St. Crispin, demand pay equal to that of men - 1869

William Sylvis, founder of the National Labor Union, died - 1869