Tour Brochures
Choose any of our location-specific tours!
How to Use The Maps – Click any marker to learn about the site and its significance. Use the numbered guide to plan your route, or explore at your own pace.
Or build your own 10 site custom tour!
The City
Explore Pittsburgh’s Labor Legacy Around the City
From the banks of the Allegheny to the streets of the North Side, Pittsburgh’s labor history is written into the city itself. This self-guided walking tour traces the sites where workers organized, fought, and won — shaping not just a city, but the American labor movement.
Follow markers across downtown Pittsburgh and beyond, visiting landmarks like the Allegheny Landing, the site of the 1877 Railroad Strike, the founding location of the American Federation of Labor, and memorials honoring the men and women who built this region’s industrial might. Each stop connects a place you can stand in today to a moment that changed history.
North
Explore Pittsburgh’s Labor Legacy to the North
Follow the Allegheny River north from Pittsburgh and you’ll find a landscape shaped by generations of miners, steelworkers, glassworkers, and immigrants who built their lives and communities along these banks. The North tour traces that history through the towns of Millvale, Harmar, Springdale, and beyond. From the stunning Maxo Vanka murals at St. Nicholas Croatian Church to the mass grave of the Harwick Mine explosion victims, the North tour puts you face to face with the human cost — and the enduring spirit — of working life in the Pittsburgh region. These are stories of tragedy, solidarity, and survival, told through the places where they unfolded.
Also Worth Visiting – Several sites along the way are deeply connected to the region’s labor story — including the Workmen’s Circle Branch 975 Cemetery, the former Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant in Ford City, and the Allegheny Ludlum Steel mill in Brackenridge, still represented by the United Steelworkers today.
East
Explore Pittsburgh’s Labor Legacy to the East
East of Pittsburgh, the Monongahela and Youghiogheny river valleys were the beating heart of American steel. The towns along these banks — Braddock, Homestead, Munhall, Wilmerding — were built by workers and defined by the struggles that took place there. The East tour follows that history through mine disasters, labor massacres, library philanthropy, and the rise of industrial giants like Westinghouse and U.S. Steel.From the Morewood Massacre marker in East Huntingdon Township to the site of the 1919 Steel Strike in Braddock, the East tour confronts some of the most dramatic and consequential moments in American labor history. Visit the Carnegie libraries built for workers whose wages helped fund them. Stand at the Westinghouse Bridge and consider what industrial innovation meant for the people who made it possible. This is a tour about power — who held it, who challenged it, and what it cost.
Also Worth Visiting – The East tour includes several additional points of interest beyond the marked sites — among them the Ross Iron Furnace near Ligonier, the Coal and Coke Heritage Center in Fayette County, and a marker honoring Bill Sylvis, leader of the Iron Molders Union and a founding figure of the post-Civil War labor movement, located at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
South
Explore Pittsburgh’s Labor Legacy to the South
South of Pittsburgh, along the banks of the Monongahela, sits Homestead — the site of one of the most pivotal confrontations in American labor history. The South tour centers on that story and fans out across the communities where steelworkers lived, organized, and are remembered: Munhall, McKees Rocks, Aliquippa, Castle Shannon, and beyond.
The South tour takes you to the Pump House, the last surviving structure from the Battle of Homestead, where workers held their ground against Pinkerton agents in 1892. It traces the footsteps of Mother Jones, jailed in Homestead for organizing. It marks where Francis Perkins — the first woman to serve in a U.S. Cabinet — did early labor work that would shape New Deal policy for a generation. And it honors Philip Murray, the Pittsburgh steelworker who rose to lead both the United Steelworkers and the CIO. These aren’t just local stories. They are the foundations of modern American labor law and workers’ rights.
Also Worth Visiting – The South tour points to two additional places worth seeking out: a marker for the 1962 Robena Mine Disaster, whose 37 victims helped spark the creation of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and a roadside marker for Jock Yablonski — the UMW reform candidate murdered alongside his wife and daughter in 1969, whose death galvanized the movement for union democracy.
Learn More About The Battle of Homestead Foundation
This guide was created by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Our mission is to memorialize the dramatic labor conflict of the 1892 Battle of Homestead and clarify the consequences that remain with us today, empowering today’s workforce and building strategies for the future of work.