by Paul R. Spitzzeri
It was a pleasure to participate today in the Glendora Public Library’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday with a presentation on how Los Angeles commemorated the centennial in 1876 and the sesquicentennial in 1926 through publications of the county’s history and parades and pageantry locally and at expositions in Philadelphia. This program will be offered again at the Homestead on Sunday, 12 July at 2 p.m.
Following from that talk, this post looks at early celebrations of the centennial in the Angel City, which began right at the start of 1876, as the Los Angeles Star, in its New Year’s edition, remarked on that fact that,
The Centennial year was ushered in last night in grand style in his good city of Los Angeles. In addition to the balls and parties described elsewhere, the stroke of the clock which announced the death of the Old Year was the signal for a grand clamor of all the bells in the city, supplemented by a feu du joie [literally, “fire of joy”] from cannon and anvil, bomb and firecrackers, six-shooter and derringer, and every other imaginable species of explosive. We verily believe that if anybody had a can of dynamite he would have bursted it regardless of the consequences.
Safe and sane, anyone? In any case, the paper asserted that half of Angelenos were outdoors and the other gawking from windows at the spectacle, which included a parade that began at midnight, headed by the 38s volunteer fire company with its “engine beautifully decorated and drawn by two horses.” On the vehicle were these sayings:
The greatest belle of the season. Independence bell.
The greatest haul of the year. Independence Hall.
Independence Bell. L.A. fire bell.
1776. The time that tried men’s souls.
Miss U.S. America. A healthy Centennarian [sic]. No pull back for her.
May the fire of liberty burn ever brighter in the hearts of all patriots. We quench every fire but that of liberty.
The 38s, which included Elijah H. Workman, nephew of Homestead founders William Workman and Nicolasa Urioste, as a member, was followed by the Confidence Engine Company No. 2, which had its engine gussied up and among its “transparencies” displayed on it were:
1876. The alarm station of the U.S. on a run of another 100 years.
We house our engine, after a run of 100 years.
Los Angeles and Independence [Railroad] Depot.
We begin another Century with Confidence.
The fire of 76 still burning.
We Peril our Life to Protect the Distressed.
Among other organizations appearing were the citizen militia units, the Los Angeles Guards and the Rifleros del Sur, one an Anglo company and the other a Latino outfit, and the Sonora Base Ball Club (an upcoming post here at this year’s Major League Baseball All-Star break, in mid-July, will look at some early Los Angeles baseball history).
The Star continued that “the procession was further augmented by citizens on foot, on horseback, in carriages and otherwise.” The parade went from the 38’s firehouse to the Plaza, then south on Main Street to Arcadia Street, then a block east to Los Angeles Street, then south to Commercial Street, then east to Main, then south to 3rd Street, then west to Spring and north on that thoroughfare to the firehouse.
As the procession moved through its route, “flags and handkerchiefs waved from every window” and music was played at Stearns Hall, located at the southwest corner of Los Angeles and Arcadia (just south of today’s U.S. 101), while those attending a ball at the Los Angeles Social Club also saluted with song and the German Turnverein society “shouted Gut Heil [Good Health].”
The paper went to record that “the boys along and in the street swelled the uproar, and increased the din” so that “everybody was jolly, a heartier demonstration of good will and delight, no one need wish to see.” The 38s Chief Engineer Charles E. Miles “was in his glory as Chief Marshal, and had no lack of aid[e]s, while the account concluded with the observation that “the festivities and rejoicings were kept up until daylight, and olde 75 must have been pleased to see the hearty welcome extended to his son and heir, 1876.”
Other celebrations throughout the country, from San Francisco to New York City involving bell ringing, firing of guns, setting off fireworks and more, were reported via telegraph dispatches from more than 40 locations, under a vignette of a stout gent holding a flag on a pole with it stated that there was “NATIONAL REJOICING OVER THE UNION” and “FIRING THE CENTENNIAL HEART.”
An editorial, likely penned by publisher Benjamin C. Truman, titled “THE CENTENNIAL YEAR,” offered the view that 1876 was such that “more than ever will [New Year’s] day now become an epoch to be marked by renewed and deepened expressions of popular [con]gratulation.” This was, the paper asserted, because “we have safely passed through our non-age as a nation, and to-day stand forth in all the dignity of full manhood.” Looking back at the residual trauma of the Civil War, the current “Long Depression” that erupted in 1873 and continued through the remainder of the decade, and, perhaps, forward as industrialization gained steam in America, the Star remarked,
We have passed through a thousand dangers unharmed; and if, now and then, the sun of our prosperity has been dimmed, it has emerged triumphant through the threatening clouds and shone the brighter for its temporary eclipse.
The piece employed no small measure of purple prose as it stated that American democracy “was an experiment at which political sagacity sneered” and “against which despots launched the arrows of satire” while “tyranny hurled its thunderbolts.” There were those, claiming higher levels of knowledge, who, looking at the system our founding figures established “with such infinite labor and care,” uttered “prophecies of its downfall and predictions of its destruction.” But, the piece solemnly intoned, “neither the assaults of foreign foes nor the tempests of internecine strife have prevailed against it.”
Rising to rarefied rhetorical heights, the Star proclaimed to its readers that,
When its bulwark, the Constitution, has been threatened, eloquence has caught fresh inspiration as it sprang to the forum to vindicate its adaptability to all the wants of the millions who dwell beneath its sheltering aegis, and courage and patriotism have found ten thousand shining exemplars in those who have rushed to its defence when the tocsin of war has summoned its defenders from the workshop, the farm, the counting desk and the fireside.
The editorial went on to note the rise and fall of various political systems as well as to posit the decline of modern states like England, France, Germany and Russia, but averred that
if we are true to ourselves and the palladium of our liberties, the American Government ‘shall flourish in immortal youth,'” this phrase nicked from Cato, an early 18th century play by Joseph Addison, “we shall be remembered by those who, centuries hence, shall celebrate this day, as the descendants of men whose priceless privilege it was to form a nation upon, what it is not irreverent to term, the political Rock of Ages, since they caught their true inspiration from that great principle “whose seat is the bosom of God, and whose voice is the harmony of the Universe.” [the quote from late 16th century theologian Richard Hooker]
In the nation’s capital, the Los Angeles Express shared from the telegraph, Augustus A. Hardenbergh, a member of the House of Representatives from New Jersey, introduced “a resolution recommending to the people of the several States that they assemble in their several counties and cause a historical sketch of their county, from its foundation, to be read on the 4th of July” at public celebrations. He also suggested that copies be filed with the county clerk as well as the Library of Congress.
On the 9th, the Star decided to make its own “Centennial Reduction” in subscription rates for its weekly edition by cutting the price to $2 annually. The strained economy may have contributed to this, as well, and this was worsened four days later when the Los Angeles Express reported that “the banking house of Temple & Workman failed to open this morning” and an assignment from its owners, William Workman and his son-in-law (and country treasurer-elect, due to take office in March) F.P.F. Temple filed with the county recorder’s office.
Los Angeles residents, however, continued with plans to support the centennial exposition in the City of Brotherly Love, including a report on the 5th in the Express that “Don Mateo [Mathew] Keller is going to personally superintend his own display of Los Angeles wines at the Centennial.” Keller was lionized as being “better fitted” than anyone “to introduce the wines of California to the representative men of the world” because “his practical knowledge of viniculture is unsurpassed on this coast.” It was noted that “his mission to the Centennial will not only be of great benefit to Los Angeles, but it will place the wine interests of the whole state under the heaviest obligation.
There was also a call, on 20 January, for women to meet at the “Pico House [hotel] parlors, to arrange for the proper representation of this section in the Woman’s Department” of the Philadelphia event. The confab was lightly attended on account of rain, but Mrs. B.C. Whiting told those present that, as she was the local representative of that committee, she sought “the hearty co-operation of all women of this community who love their own sex and reverence our glorious country.”
She made a point of referencing “the native-born and the adopted children of the Republic,” this latter meaning immigrants, to “all join hearts and hands in preparing to celebrate our first Centennial,” cautioning, “let none of the fair daughters of Southern California be backward in their endeavors.” What was requested for the exposition was $30,000 “for the construction of a suitable building in which to display to advantage the results of woman’s skill and labor,” with stock issued at $10 per share. Whiting continued,
It may seem a little awkward at this time [following the Temple and Workman bank failure? Or, the general economic environment?] to ask for money, yet when it is understood that a subscription entitles one to a share of building stock, from which a dividend will be received, it does not appear so preposterous . . .
Trusting to the magnanimity and generosity of the good people of Los Angeles, we anticipate a favorable result. May we not be disappointed.
On the 21st, the board of directors of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, a precursor to the current and long-running organization, met and a letter was read from William McPherson who was “suggesting the collection and publishing, in pamphlet form, of statistics of the production of wines, etc., in Los Angeles county, to be sent to Philadelphia and distributed among the visitors at the Centennial.
In its number of the 23rd, the Los Angeles Herald remarked that a Pico House guest, Philadelphia resident John S. Alexander, “suggests that that the people of this section might make a creditable Centennial exhibition by gathering up all the old relics and mementoes which link the practical present with the romantic history of the Missions.” The paper added that the Carrillo, Pico and Wolfskill families owned such artifacts and that Alexander’s idea “would make an interesting feature of the Centennial,” while he assured locals that any objects sent to the east would be safely returned.
John A. Scott, a recent arrival from the famous Pennsylvania oil fields, the first in the country when opened in 1859, to supervise operations for the California Star Oil Company at the San Fernando field, in modern Santa Clarita (and where F.P.F. Temple was recently engaged in drilling before his financial failure), was cited in the Express of the 26th, that he “proposes to represent at the Centennial his own oils,” from Pennsylvania, “and our San Fernando oil, refined by his process.” This, of course, would potentially portend much for the nascent industry, which would grow to remarkable extents in future decades.
The same day’s Star commented on efforts in Congress to fund the exposition, telling readers that,
The Great Centennial Exposition to come off this year has not been very handsomely treated by Congress. Congress ordered the scheme, provided for the participation of other nations, and gave it no money. Now it is proposed to amend that parsimony, and put the Commission on a sure financial basis. To this the whole country will say amen, by this time.
It was previously reported that there was a vote in the House of Representatives to provide appropriations for the exposition and which passed 146-130, though telegraphic dispatches indicated that there were sectional divisions on the broader question of celebrating the centennial, with most Southern Democrats taking issue with the general planning process, while Republicans, largely in the northeast and midwest, supporting it.
A second gathering of Angel City women met, with improved weather, at the Pico House to continue discussions on supporting the Women’s U.S. Centennial Auxiliary Association, with the Express of the 27th recording “it was unanimously resolved that it be regarded as the duty of every woman in Southern California to solicit subscriptions for Centennial stock.”
The Herald of the 26th published from “F.M.” a poem, simply called “Centennial 1876,” which included among its 21 lines:
The year of Jubilee has dawned,
The Centennial year of true love,
And tho’ the tyrant’s power has waned,
And human ties grow strong above—
The bigots’ thrall, or princes’ might,
There yet remain some heavy chains
Some ignorance, as dense as night,
Before we can stand as freedom’s light,
Upon the world’s great battle plains . . .
Renew that pledge in freedom’s name,
For liberty is her true ideal,
May our country merit all her fame:
And make her promise golden real.
We’ll return tomorrow with more on how Los Angeles prepared for the nation’s centennial in 1876, so be sure to check in with us then.