History of Gompers Habilitation Center
About Our Namesake, Samuel Gompers (1850-1924)
Samuel Gompers was born January 27, 1850 in London, England. After a mere four years of elementary school education, Mr. Gompers landed himself a position as an apprentice to a cigar maker in London's east end.
In 1863, his family moved to New York City. There he later became active in the social clubs, fraternal orders and labor unions of the lower east side, then teaming with immigrants from Europe. Unlike many of the other immigrants who were the bearers of European revolutionary traditions, Gompers' ideas were moderate and he exerted a powerful influence in the evolution of American Labor Unionism from radicalism to conservatism.
During the following years, he was a leader in the movement to organize the National Federation of Labor Unions. When the AFL was founded in 1886, Gompers was elected President of the organization and with the exception of a singular year in 1895, Mr. Gompers was reelected annually to that position thereafter to his death in 1924.
Since 1947, Gompers Habilitation Center has been committed to serving adults and children with disabilities in our community. Since those first days on 7th Street, Gompers has grown tremendously and we are proud of our history, our heritage and, most importantly, our more than 300 students and clients we serve every day.