Cuds and Snipes: Labor at Chicago's Auditorium Building, 1887–1889

Abstract

Historians are more likely to examine monumental buildings as finished products than as processes of construction. Chicago's Auditorium Building was monumentality itself: upon completion in 1890 it was the largest edifice in the United States, and an exceptionally elegant one. Though often discussed as a work of art, an urban icon, and a measure of regional accomplishment, it has yet to be considered as a nexus of social relations. For monument appraisal tends to overlook the role of labor – including its relations with capital – that is not only inherent to the construction process, but that in this instance also affected Chicago's future. It was precisely the Auditorium's monumentality that prompted local trade unions to develop new tactics that yielded unprecedented results.