Founding the party
 
The Industrial Reform Party was apparently organized by attenders of the Industrial Reform Conference held in Springfield IL.
 
Very little is known about the party, which appears to have been very small (even by third party standards) and never made ballot status.
 
The National Convention
 
The Industrial Reform Party National Convention assembled in Grand Army Hall, Washington DC 2/22-23/1888. There were 49 delegates present representing various reform movements of the day.
 
Convention Temporary Chairman: Former St. Sen. Joseph W. Etheridge NC
 
Permanent Chairman: former US Rep. Charles Pelham DC (had represented AL in Congress)
 
The convention nominated Albert E. Redstone for President. Redstone was a soft money Republican who had been associated in the past with the Labor Reform Party of 1872, the Greenback Party in 1876, and the "Labor Party" during his campaign for the US House from California in 1886.
 
The vice presidential nominee was John Colvin, a leader of the Grange. Colvin had been born in Ohio but was living in Moline KS at the time of the convention. He had been a Democrat until 1880, when he supported Garfield for President. In the

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Founding the party
 
The Industrial Reform Party was apparently organized by attenders of the Industrial Reform Conference held in Springfield IL.
 
Very little is known about the party, which appears to have been very small (even by third party standards) and never made ballot status.
 
The National Convention
 
The Industrial Reform Party National Convention assembled in Grand Army Hall, Washington DC 2/22-23/1888. There were 49 delegates present representing various reform movements of the day.
 
Convention Temporary Chairman: Former St. Sen. Joseph W. Etheridge NC
 
Permanent Chairman: former US Rep. Charles Pelham DC (had represented AL in Congress)
 
The convention nominated Albert E. Redstone for President. Redstone was a soft money Republican who had been associated in the past with the Labor Reform Party of 1872, the Greenback Party in 1876, and the "Labor Party" during his campaign for the US House from California in 1886.
 
The vice presidential nominee was John Colvin, a leader of the Grange. Colvin had been born in Ohio but was living in Moline KS at the time of the convention. He had been a Democrat until 1880, when he supported Garfield for President. In the 1880s, however, Colvin became affiliated with anti-monopolist groups.
 
The Campaign
 
Redstone won the endorsement of some leaders of the disintegrating Greenback Party. He told the Montgomery [AL] Advertiser that he would carry several states, including AL, NY, NC, AR, PA, IL, IA, and MO. [NYT 3/10/1888]. However, it appears that Redstone's campaign got little traction. The party failed to field Presidential Electors in any state and no candidates for other offices.
 
Sources: Darcy Richardson, Others: Third Parties During the Populist Period, pp. 54-55.
 
Popular Vote of 1888
 
Electoral Vote of 1888

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