John L. Lewis

Open - April 15 through October 15 - Monday - Saturday - 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Located 2 Blocks North of Highway Junction 34 & 65 in Lucas, Iowa. Group tours by appointment year around. Closed Sundays & Holidays ADMISSION $2.00 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP $4.00 The museum is handicapped accessible .

" I have pleaded (labor's) case, not in the quavering tones of a feeble mendicant asking alms, but in the thundering voice of the captain of a mighty host, demanding the rights to which free men are entitled." John L. Lewis

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A colossus of American labor, John L. Lewis was an eloquent spokesman for working people throughout the U.S. President of the United Mine Workers for over four decades, he won for his members the highest wages of any of the major industries of the period, and one of the first employer-paid health and retirement systems. A strong proponent of industrial unionism, he revitalized the U.S. labor movement in the thirties with the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, bringing hundreds of thousands of workers into the new CIO. The controversial John L. Lewis was one of the most admired, feared, effective and colorful trade unionists in American history.

John L. Lewis Biography

1880-1969

John L. Lewis was born February 12, 1880, to Welsh immigrant parents, in the coal mining camp of Cleveland, Iowa -- a mile east of Lucas. "John L." began work in the "BIG HILL" Mine in Lucas as a teenager, joining UMWA Local #799 in 1900. Myrta Bell, a daughter of a local physician, married John L. Lewis in 1907. The following year they moved to the coal fields of Illinois, where he began his rise to power in the United mine Workers of America.

Lewis was president of the UMWA from 1920-1960. He was a giant among American leaders in the first half of the twentieth century, regularly advising presidents and challenging America's corporate leaders. His work to organize the country's industrial workers through the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the 1930s helped raise living standards for millions of American families. In the first year of the CIO, nearly four million workers joined labor organizations and wages were raised by over a billion dollars. Lewis sent hundreds of UMWA organizers to help create some of the nation's leading labor unions, including the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), the United Auto Workers (UAW), the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and many other important labor organizations that continue to speak in behalf of America's workers.

Perhaps Lewis' greatest legacy was the creation of the UMWA Welfare and Retirement Fund in a contract with the federal government, signed in the White House with President Truman in attendance. The UMWA Fund would change permanently health care delivery in the coal fields of the nation. The UMWA Fund built eight hospitals in Appalachia and established numerous clinics. In 1964, Lewis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian decoration, by President Lyndon Johnson. He remained Chairman of the UMWA Fund until his death.

Lewis died in June of 1969 and is buried in Springfield, Illinois, in the same cemetery as Abraham Lincoln. Both men were born on February 12 and were destined to make great changes in our American Way of Life.

John L. Lewis, influential leader of the United Mine Workers of America for many years, is shown here (at left) with Horace Ainscough, the first retired miner to receive a pension check.

The John L. Lewis Commission, organized in 1986, is a non-profit corporation formed to establish a memorial to a famous native, some of Lucas, Iowa and to aid in the renovation of this small town. The museum is owned and maintained by the John L. Lewis Commission, Inc. Monthly meetings are held on the second Tuesday at 7 p. m. in the museum. Officers and directors are chosen at the annual meeting in July. Yearly membership dues are $4.00.

The museum is operated and maintained solely by donations and volunteers. Any and all financial gifts to the John L. Lewis Mining & Labor Museum are accepted and acknowledged. All donations are tax deductible. Posted inside the museum each year is a list of contributors of $25 or more, Unions, Business's and Private gifts for visitors to view. Donations of $100.00 or more are engraved on plaques displayed in the museum. monetary gifts may also be made "In Memory" of someone. All donations are greatly appreciated and may be sent to the:

John L. Lewis Commission Inc., Treasurer,

P.O. Box 3, Lucas, Iowa 50151

Visit the John L. Lewis Portrait Gallery.