Fort Wayne at the Fourth of July

   All around the country July 4th was celebrated as George Washington suggested. There was the reading of the Declaration of Independence, oratory, prayer, perhaps poetry recital and a barbecue. There were fireworks, parades and picnics. Below is a compilation from the newspapers of Fort Wayne, Indiana for how four specific years were celebrated there. 

1876 - U.S. Centennial Fourth of July Celebration

     The city did not then sponsor Fourth of July celebrations. Therefore, private groups took up the slack. Here’s what took place:

• The bishop of the Catholic diocese stated a desire for the holiday to be “religiously celebrated” with masses of thanksgiving. St. Paul’s Catholic Church Sunday School afterwards went to Mad Anthony Park, headed in a procession led by the St. Cecilia Band. 

• Emmanuel German Lutheran Church sponsored a picnic at Swiney Park. A large crowd turned out, and a noted feature was all the little girls dressed in white.

• The Kokomo Band played in Fort Wayne.

• The Salem Reform Church sponsored a picnic at White’s Grove with the reading of the Declaration of Independence, a performance by Webber’s Choir, and refreshments for sale. 

• The Universalist Church sponsored an excursion train to the newly-popular resort Rome City. Boat rides, fishing and dancing were the draws. Cost was 75 cents round trip, 50 cents for children 10 to 13 years old. Seven full coaches departed from the city. They were met by Hellicon’s Band of Kendallville.

• Downtown businesses and homes were decorated with evergreens, flags and bunting. The fire department marched in procession down the streets. The boom of cannons was heard and the ringing of the “liberty bell,” which was actually the markethouse bell. Sky rockets and fireworks were set off from the top of the courthouse before a drenching rain set in. 

5 July 1879, The Fort Wayne Sentinel 

     

     “The Fourth of July 1879 will long be remembered in this city. For the first time in eight years a grand union, old-fashioned celebration was held, and the crowd gathered was the largest assembled in this city, with the possible exception of the great Douglas meeting in 1860.”

The heat was “very severe” and excursion trains filled to capacity rolled in, 600 passengers from the town of Bluffton alone. The streets were decorated with bunting and evergreens. By 9:00 a.m. Calhoun, Columbia, Court and other streets were packed “with a mass of sweltering but good-humored human beings bent on enjoyment.” Streetcars, buses, and wagons were loaded, hotel balconies were “black” with spectators, and faces peered from every window. Everyone decorated, businesses and residences draped in flags and wreaths.

     The parade began at Court and Berry streets at 11:30 led by the mayor. Next was St. Cecelia’s Cornet Band, followed by the police force in uniform with new hats, then eight carriages of city officers. Next was the fire department, the Saengerbund in an immense wagon 40 feet long covered in evergreens and flags drawn by eight horses. (The Saengerbund was a German choral society that was popular and active in the city.) Business wagons followed. Vordermark’s great boot with a cobbler in the shade of the boot completed the trades display. At the entrance to Swinney Park it had to be turned, tipped and twisted to get it through the gate. 

     At the park an effort was made to get a large portion of the crowd to the judge’s stand for official addresses and reading of the Declaration of Independence but the crowd wasn’t cooperating so this was abandoned. Cannons blasted and a dance began led by Lew Clark and an orchestra. The city band played, and there were horse races. Prof. Bedunah performed rope walking before a huge crowd. At 5:00 p.m. a balloon, “with the aeronaut standing on a trapeze attached to the basket” ascended over the park. It landed on a rooftop half a mile away.

The Fort Wayne City Band played during a fireworks display - a 2 hour show, “the finest ever seen in this city.”

     The newspaper commented that, “Beer flowed in torrents at the fairgrounds yesterday,”

and large quantities of gingerbread were “demolished by the rustic people.” 

8 July 1881 Fort Wayne Daily Gazette

     “The country at large never celebrated a sadder Fourth of July than the one just past. A beloved president's life was hanging in the balance, and a feeling of gloom and pall of sorrow hung over every one.” An oration by Chancellor Sims was printed. It began, “We are a nation of mourners today. On Saturday morning at half past nine o'clock the assassin’s bullet was aimed at the liberties and franchisement and fortunes of the American people.” 

     “Monday morning early large numbers of strangers poured into the city from the immediate vicinity and neighboring towns. The majority of our visitors were sturdy farmers, their wives, sons and daughters, and many of them were exceedingly disappointed to learn that the attractions promised had been abandoned for reasons well known. Country people toured courthouse, water works, fire dept. etc in swarms.

     A formal program was held at 2 at the courthouse yard. The Columbia City Band, with 15 members, opened with stirring selections. A Congregational minister led the prayer. A quartette sang, the Declaration of Independence was read and an Iowa congressman held the crowd’s interest  for an hour in “broiling sun.” It was a “befitting panegyric” on the life and character of President Garfield. 

     There were private displays of fireworks, the best given by the Nirdlinger brothers, Sam, Pete and Max, at their store, and T.J. Hanna at his home at Berry and Broadway. Churches had picnics with bands playing. The hotels, restaurants and saloons were packed. 

1887 - With the Fourth landing on a Monday, the newspaper noted residents would have two days of leisure. 

     Dissension broke out at a meeting of the Business Men’s Exchange on June 14th, held to discuss plans for the holiday. A Fair Association “at considerable expense” had secured a number of fair attractions and announced it would charge a 25 cent admission.  The Fair Association planned trotting races, a mule race, a bicycle race, a baseball game and a grand balloon ascension. 

     The representative for the Knights of Labor said he was “deadly opposed” to an admission fee, and that 50 or more out-of-town lodges had already been invited, with no word of having to pay to attend. He insisted they would not attend anything where admission was charged. Upon a vote the Business Men’s Exchange said they would not take part in any Fourth activities. 

     At the popular summer resort Rome City, the Fisk Jubilee Singers arrived July 3rd for a performance on the Fourth. They were staying at the Assembly Hotel.

  

An ice cream ad that appeared in an 1886 Fort Wayne Sentinel

   The German-American gymnastics club Turnverein advertised a picnic at the apple orchard at Mad Anthony Park with “a good program enacted, consisting of fine gymnastics exercises by the different members of the society.” The City Band provided the music. 

     The morning of the Fourth arrived with rain. Four thousand out-of-towners came in on the trains and stores did a lively business before closing at noon. The Fair Ground Association drew the biggest crowds with their planned events, even with the admission fee. The Knights of Labor organized their own parade and marched, 300 members strong, with their own band, down the streets to Vordermark’s Grove, a two-block long parade, where they hosted a picnic. The Declaration of Independence was read, orators spoke, then followed baseball, football, a sack race, wheelbarrow race, greased pole contest, greased pig contest, “a hundred little innocent games to amuse and entertain,” and a dance. It was a temperance picnic. 

     Several of the larger churches held picnics at various groves, each with a live band. 

     There was no official pyrotechnic display but individual businesses and residents fired off their own. Most notable were the shows put on by Aveline House, the East End Euchre Club, and Mr. Geller, who owned a bakery on Broadway. 

    

Source:

     “Fort Wayne’s Public Park,” Fort Wayne Sentinel, 29 Nov 1875, p. 2.

     “Not So Glorious. The Fourth of July Celebration Not Promising Well,” The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, 14 June 1887, p. 1. 

     “The Glorious. How It Was Observed,” Fort Wayne Sentinel, 5 July 1887, p. 1. 

Copyright by Andrea Auclair  © 2024