As the BLET marks its 160th anniversary this year, we are proud to honor the brave locomotive engineers who founded our Brotherhood so long ago.
Without question, the founder and leader of the early Brotherhood was William D. Robinson. A Michigan Central locomotive engineer, Robinson was just 37 years old when the Brotherhood of the Footboard was established on May 8, 1863.
In the Locomotive Engineers Journal in 1892, Robinson identified eight of his fellow Michigan Central locomotive engineers who helped him establish the Brotherhood: George Q. Adams; Thomas Faulkner; Henry Hall; Alfred (Sam) Keith; Linus Keith; Thomas Nixon; J.C. (Yankee) Thompson; and Thomas Van Wormer.
Robinson and several other of our founders were labeled as “radicals” and “disturbers” by Michigan Central Railroad management and were fired. Some were so thoroughly blacklisted that they were unable to obtain gainful employment in the railroad industry for many years.
Delegates to the Brotherhood’s 1910 convention in Detroit honored these founding members with a plaque that reads in part: “In one year, under terrible conditions created by the Civil War, Mr. Robinson had succeeded in laying the foundation for the Brotherhood. He and his fellow associates suffered so others might reap the fruits of their labors. His name will forever be associated with our history as a man whose self-sacrificing spirit is worthy of emulation.”
Thanks to their sacrifice and bravery, the organization they created still stands today. Founded as the Brotherhood of the Footboard on May 8, 1863, the organization changed its name one year later to Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. On January 1, 2004, the organization became known as Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
The driving force behind the early Brotherhood, Robinson was born on May 22, 1826, and died on November 7, 1890. A large headstone placed by the union marks his final resting place at Oak Grove Cemetery in Washington, Indiana.
On the 160th anniversary of our organization, we take pride in recognizing these Brothers as the Founding Fathers of our Brotherhood.