Hot Springs in Garland County, Arkansas — The American South (West South Central)

Switchmen's Union of North America

1894—1968

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 14, 2024

1. Switchmen's Union of North America Marker

Inscription. Organized Oct. 23, 1894
at Kansas City, Mo.
Membership 12,000
275 locals in the United States and Canada
SUNA watchword,
“The injury of one is the concern of all.”

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Labor Unions • Railroads & Streetcars. A significant historical date for this entry is October 23, 1894.

Location. 34° 30.444′ N, 93° 3.146′ W. Marker is in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in Garland County. It is on Broadway Terrace just south of Market Street, on the right when traveling south. The marker is located on the south side of the Hot Springs Intracity Transit complex, formerly the Missouri-Pacific Railroad Depot. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 100 Broadway Terrace, Hot Springs National Park AR 71901, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Arkansas’ Ouachita Mountains.

It is also in the American South

and specifically in the Upper South.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

the Louisiana Purchase,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (here, next to this marker); United Transportation Union (here, next to this marker); Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen & Enginemen (here, next to this marker); Order of Railway Conductors & Brakemen (here, next to this marker); Cy Young (a few steps from this marker); Hot Springs Intracity Transit National Historic Register (within shouting distance

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of this marker); Hot Springs/Garland County Ambulance Service (within shouting distance of this marker); In Memory of Spanish American War Veterans (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Hot Springs.

Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. United Transportation Union

Also see . . . Switchmen's Union of North America (Wikipedia).

Excerpt: The Switchmen's Union of North America (SUNA) was a labor union formed in October 1894 that represented the track switch operators and people who coupled railway cars in railway yards in the United States and Canada. The origins of the union can be traced to August 1870 when a local switchmen's mutual aid association was formed in Chicago. At that time, switchmen were paid $50 a week for twelve hour days, seven days a week. The association was formed to help them bargain for better conditions.
On October 13, 1894, delegates from several lodges of the former association met in Kansas City, Missouri and formed the Switchmen's Union of North America. It was incorporated in Buffalo, New York on January 9, 1902, covering the
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 14, 2024

2. United Transportation Union Monument (west side)
Looking east; Broadway Terrace crosses in the background. This marker is the rightmost tablet of five related tablets comprising the United Transportation Union Monument.
United States and Canada, and representing yard workers: yardmasters, switchmen, switch tenders, towermen and interlocking men. The objectives were to promote the social, moral and intellectual interests of its members, to maintain harmonious relations between workers and employers and to protect its distressed or erring members, exercising its beneficial influence in the interests of right and justice.
In 1906 the union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. SUNA was one of the founding unions of the Railway Labor Executives' Association in 1926. Discussions about a merger of train movement unions started in 1929 with the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and the Order of Railway Conductors, but became bogged down. In 1935 SUNA affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress. In 1969 the Switchmen's Union of North America combined with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen to form the United Transportation Union.

(Submitted on January 26, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

Credits. This page was last revised on January 26, 2025. It was originally submitted on January 25, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 191 times since then and 52 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 26, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.