Labor Lyceum
Jewish, 1907 - 1930
Location/OriginPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
BiographyThe local branches of the international Jewish labor group the Workmen’s Circle, and other Jewish labor groups in Pittsburgh, founded Labor Lyceum Inc. in 1907 for the purposes of building a center for Jewish labor activity in the Hill District. After nearly a decade of fundraising, the organization broke ground on the Labor Lyceum building on Miller Street in the Hill District in 1916 and held a house-warming on February 4, 1917. The three-story building had offices, a hall, a public library and community spaces and served as a general meeting place for political, union, fraternal and cultural organizations associated with the Jewish labor movement in Pittsburgh. Organizations associated with Labor Lyceum Inc. included the Workmen’s Circle Branches 45, 104 and 250, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of American Local 86, the Baker Union Local 44, the Stogie Makers Union Local 1, the Bread Salesman Union Local 42, the Hat and Cap Makers Union, the Jewish Branch of the Socialist Party of Pittsburgh and the Young People’s Socialist League. Organizations that met at the Labor Lyceum included the Fruit Dealer’s Protective Association, the Hebrew Beneficial Association, the Pittsburgh Installment Association, the Maretzer Relief Society and the Lamazer Relief Society. The Labor Lyceum also hosted a dramatic club, a choir and a Yiddish school. According to historian Ida Cohen Selavan, the Labor Lyceum was “probably the first ‘white’ organization in the city to rent to blacks.” Changes (and disputes) within the local labor movement led to a decline in membership in late 1920s. The building was sold in 1930 but the earnings were lost in a bank closure. The building continued to be used by the African-American population on the Hill District for several years, before being sold to a local Church of God in Christ. The building was demolished in March 2018, to accommodate a small housing development on Miller Street.
