First Strike

While the Wetmore's and Joshua Stow were running their mills and store, in about 1829, the first strike, which ever occurred in Cuyahoga Falls, took place. Whisky, in those days, was very cheap and very plentiful. About 25 cents per gallon was the regular price, and everybody drank whisky. Stow and Henry Wetmore, in their mills, employed about forty men; and they paid off every Saturday afternoon at which time they opened a barrel of whisky, and gave each man a bonus of a gallon of whisky. Cuyahoga Falls, at that time, was in Portage County and the doctors in the county had a convention at Ravenna in 1829, at which time the discussed the practice of drinking so much whiskey, and decided to do what they could to get the people away from this practice.

Dr. Orlando Wilcox, then a young physician, was located at Cuyahoga Falls, attended this convention . When he came home, he talked about this resolution to Henry Wetmore, who became interested in the subject, and after communicating with his partner, Joshua Stow, they decided to stop the practice of giving whisky  to the men. On the next Saturday they paid off their men, but gave them no whisky.  The men all went on strike, saying "No whisky, no work." On Monday morning Wetmore told the men that those who wanted to could go back to work, but there would be no more whisky. About one-half the men returned to work, and the other half quit and their places were supplied by other men. This was probably the first strike that ever occurred in Cuyahoga Falls. A temperance organization was formed shortly afterward.