In the early 1900s, people got around Philadelphia on trolleys operated by the PRT. On this day in 1910, five to ten percent of the city’s population join in a general strike, in solidarity with trolley workers, bringing the city to a standstill for 22 days.

Trolley workers unionized a year earlier to demand a 13-½% raise, the right to buy uniforms on the open market, and a maximum workday of 10 hours. On February 19, thousands of trolley workers strike. The company responds by hiring hundreds of violent strike breakers. Chaos ensues. A trolley being driven by an armed volunteer crashes and the driver is killed. Mobs pile bricks on tracks and pulverize trolley cars. The National Guard is called in, sparking the citywide general strike which lasts until the PRT agrees to increase wages.