By Chase Fleece, Graduate Student in the Department of History at BGSU

In the small hours of August 25, 1934, the residents of McGuffey, Ohio–a small rural community fifty-five miles southwest of Bowling Green–slept peacefully following a rather uneventful afternoon. Since mid-June, the monotony most McGuffians enjoyed had been disrupted by sporadic squabbles between union organizers and anti-union deputies. Organized with the American Federation of Labor (AFL), AWFLU 19724 comprised nearly 800 local farmworkers and sharecroppers who weeded, topped, and harvested the Scioto Marsh’s many onions. To many their demands were simple: increased wages and an eight-hour workday. Yet growers had refused to negotiate and confrontations continued. Then, at three o’clock in the morning, a charge of nitroglycerin ripped through McGuffey Mayor Godfrey Ott’s home breaking windows and caving in the southside walls. Luckily, no one was injured in the blast – but more violence was yet to come.