Boston quickly became an integral cog in the art of electricity when in 1890 at St. Louis, Missouri, an exposition was held featuring the many new uses of electricity. The great 1890 St. Louis exposition drew scientists, inventors and workers employed in line work, inside work and manufacturing of electrical equipment and installation. Amongst those in attendance were employees who called a meeting at Stolley's Dance Hall to form a Union.

Since 1890, Linemen involved in installation of telegraph and telephone lines, who had previously been affiliated with the Knights of Labor and the Brotherhood of Telegraphers, were unorganized having had their union devastated by Jay Gould in the 1883 Telegraph strike and the attitude of the public towards unions after the Haymarket Square riot on May of 1886 in Chicago. The ranks of the Knights of Labor, which were as high as 700,000 members in 1885 were under 100,000 by 1890.

The American Federation of Labor formed in Pittsburgh in 1881 under the leadership of Samuel Gompers established Local 5221 of the A.F. of L. The members installed Henry Miller as Grand President and J. T. Kelly as Grand Vice President (both linemen).

At the conclusion of the exposition, the new A.F. of L. members went back to their respective jobs around the country, and in the ensuing year, organized local unions in Evansville, Louisville, Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Toledo, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Duluth.

A year later, in September, 1891, the call went out for a convention to pull this loose collection of Local Unions into a National Union, and on November 21, 1891, delegates representing local unions by proxy met for a week and developed a Constitution, procedures and rules and logo (left hand holding lighting bolts). The convention delegates elected Henry Miller as First Grand President and J. T. Kelly as First Grand Secretary of the National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The Offices served without pay and attended to N.B.E.W. business while traveling the country on railroad boxcars and organized at railroad crossing campfires.

In the early summer of 1892, Henry Miller came to Boston. His organizing method was to contact electrical workers in a city and obtain work with them. He depended on the workers for wages and a place to live while talking of organizing a local union. When a group agreed to join and a local union was formed, he would move on to another city. Miller found willing workers in Boston, and on August 14, 1892, a charter was issued to inside and linemen of the Boston area, designated as Local 35, N.B.E.W.