In 1879, McBride stopped working in mines and became a check weighman at the Groves Coal Company.

[4] In December 1888, he became president of the National Progressive Miners' Union and served in that role until February 1890.

[2] On April 1, 1890, McBride was appointed commissioner to the Bureau of Labor Statistics by Governor James E. Campbell.

[1][2] McBride's prominence continued to rise with the growth of the Populist Movement in the American Midwest, and in 1894, McBride unseated labor icon Samuel Gompers as president of the American Federation of Labor.

Not long after assuming the office, however, McBride became embroiled in conflicts with other union leaders and his popularity declined.

[7][8] He was appointed police magistrate in Phoenix, Arizona, and was a member of the tobacco manufacturing firm McBride and Beaver.

They had four children, Lida L., Kittie B., Edward J. and Joseph F.[2] The family lived on Summit Street.

He was standing on a street corner in Globe, when a runaway horse knocked him through a plate glass window, causing severe lacerations in his leg, a severed artery, great loss of blood, and death.