Brookwood Labor College (Katonah, N.Y.)

Brookwood Labor College (1921 to 1937) was a labor college located at 109 Cedar Road in Katonah, New York, United States. Founded as Brookwood School in 1919 and established as a college in 1921, it was the first residential labor college in the country. Its founding and longest-serving president was A. J. Muste. The school was supported by affiliate unions of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) until 1928. The Brookwood faculty's emphasis on trade union militancy and on advocacy of socialism was opposed by the AFL's Executive Council, which pressured the AFL's unions to withdraw support for the school. Brookwood was later riven by internal dissent over whether it should support militant unionism or remain strictly an educational organization. Suffering from financial difficulties, Brookwood closed in 1937. It is considered one of the most influential labor colleges in American history and was known as "labor's Harvard." Its best known alumnus was Walter Reuther.