by Paul R. Spitzzeri
With the American centennial of 1876 rapidly approaching, including the incipient opening of a large-scale exhibition at Philadelphia, where the signing of the Declaration of Independence took place, there were both efforts to promote Los Angeles at that event and to organize a local observance beyond the scale of previous independence days.
The Los Angeles Express of 7 April ran a pair of editorials concerning the national expo, with one titled “CALIFORNIA AND THE CENTENNIAL,” and with the paper lamenting that,
The Legislature of California did a very picayunish thing in declining to make an appropriation to have our State fittingly represented at the Centennial. We are glad to see that private enterprise and liberality are likely to make amends for the omission [mainly from San Francisco capitalists] . . . Probably of all the departments of the Centennial the most interesting will be that which will contain the contributions of California. No other section [of the country] will be represented by products so various and valuable, both of the earth and things under the earth. Almost everything which contributes to the necessities and luxuries of the human race abound in our State, in perfection.
The piece listed many of those products, including field crops, fruit and vegetables that “have been the great staples of commerce” and which “flourish . . . with a prolific vigor seldom equaled anywhere.” It concluded that it was important to make sure that “the finest specimens of our diverse vegetation should be represented at the Centennial” because such an exhibit would “contain a whole volume of disquisition upon our multiform attractions and resources.”
In a separate article, the paper conveyed to its readers,
We trust that energetic measures will be taken to have Southern California, and Los Angeles in particular, fittingly represented at this national gathering. Our grapes, and wines, and oranges, and lemons, and limes, and all the bountiful stores with which nature has blessed us, should be spread out there in inviting array.
Viticulturist Mathew Keller was praised for his initiative in sending his wines and establishing a retail business in the City of Brotherly Love, but it was added that tobacco from Azusa and Pomona, corn from El Monte, other grain crops, honey from apiaries that were something of a fad in the region and other products should be sent and “presided over by some person competent to explain our peculiarities of soil and climate.” All this would serve to show exposition attendees that our area was “a second Goshen, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
In its edition of the 15th, the Los Angeles Star published the program for the opening of the Philadelphia event, to open on 10 May, which included a grand march written expressly for it by the legendary German composer Richard Wagner (though one wonders what America’s Jews might have thought about his selection), while another contribution was a hymn by John Greenleaf Whittier, who was the namesake for a new greater Los Angeles town formed during the next boom, taking place in the latter half of the 1880s.
Romanzo E. Wood of Santa Cruz had, not unlike our local Henry T. Payne, grand plans for a photographic exhibit promoting California at the Centennial event and Alvin R. Meserve, a key figure in what was the new town of Pomona and a former Santa Cruz resident who was visiting there in early April, took the opportunity to write a letter which was published in the Los Angeles Herald of the 20th.
In the missive, Meserve promoted Wood’s scheme and gave an example “to illustrate by Los Angeles,” this being “several pictures of Mr. [Benjamin D.] Wilson’s orange grove” at Lake Vineyard, his estate now in the leafy San Gabriel Valley enclave of San Marino, along with improved and unimproved property.” Stereoscopic photographs were often viewed in public presentations through a projecting apparatus, so
When thrown upon the canvas . . . with full data of all the facts connected with it, showing the enormous profits—present value—with chances to secure equally as valuable property in a few years, the impressions are much more vividly received and lastingly retained. Another feature of the exhibition and outlay of money is to secure as many papers that are published in that locality as possible, for gratuitous distribution to all who may want to read . . . By such means you reach those who feel an interest in your country . . . as it does appear to be an unusually good chance for a comparatively small outlay to show up our county of Los Angeles in a very thorough and effective manner . . .
Also beginning to appear in the local press were advertisements by merchants seeking to capitalize on the cachet of the centennial, with one example from later in April, being Mendel Meyer, who, under the heading of “Centennial 1876” told shoppers that he “has just returned from San Francisco with his Centennial stock of Summer Goods For Ladies and Gentlemen” including boots, caps, hats and shoes” at his Vienna Exposition Store, named for the world expo held in the Austrian metropolis three years earlier.
Meyer was followed in May by at least two other competitors, with The Important advertising with a rather frightening screaming figure holding a banner reading “CENTENNIAL REDUCTION!” that it “adopted . . . astonishingly low prices,” while The Capitol Store told readers that “we offer to the public our entire stock at EASTERN CENTENNIAL PRICES.” Also advertised during this period were “Centennial Songs and Quartets” from New York City sheet music publisher John L. Peters, including such titles as “One Hundred Years Ago,” “Marching ‘Neath Our Starry Flag,” and “Let the Hills and Vales Resound.”
The Philadelphia exposition opened on the 10th as planned and a telegraphic dispatch published in that day’s Express let readers know that, after some rain, the weather cleared and more than 50,000 people were on the grounds with more streaming in. Appearing for the inaugural ceremonies were President Ulysses S. Grant, soon to complete his second term marred with corruption and other scandals, members of Congress, state governors, military officers and more, including members of the Woman’s Centennial Committee, mentioned in the preceding two parts of this post.
The following day, the Star published the lyrics to Whittier’s hymn, said to have been “sung with sublime effect and amidst deafening applause,” and of which here are some samples:
Our Fathers’ God, from out whose hand,
The centuries fall like grains of sand,
We meet to-day, united, free,
And loyal to our land and Thee,
To thank Thee for the era done,
And trust Three for the opening one . . .
Be with us while the New World greets
The Old World, thronging all its streets
Unveiling all the triumphs won,
Or by art or toil, beneath the sun . . .
For art and labor met in truce,
For beauty, made the bride of use,
We thank Thee, while withal we crave
The austere virtues, strong to save . . .
O! make Thou us, through centuries long,
In peace secure, in justice strong;
Around our gift of Freedom draw
Thy safeguard of thy righteous law,
And, cast in some diviner mold,
Let the new cycle shame the old.
About a week after the expo’s opening, greater Los Angeles was shocked by the suicide of Homestead founder William Workman, who spent 35 years amassing a sizable estate which was, however, ruined by the failure of the Temple and Workman bank he owned with son-in-law and current county treasurer F.P.F. Temple. The Star, the next day, lamented the “Dreadful Thing” concerning “one of the oldest and one of the most esteemed citizens of the county” and added that, when a ranch employee hurried to Los Angeles to relate the news of the tragedy, “it created quite a sensation,” with Workman’s death a stark reminder of local economic troubles amid the national Long Depression, in effect since 1873.
Those financial problems, in fact, were foremost on the minds of California’s state legislators when it came to debates about whether to provide funding for exhibits in Philadelphia. The Herald of the 24th agreed with a San Francisco paper “in condemning the action, or rather non-action . . . in regard to the Centennial appropriation,” which was a $50,000 request, though the Senate agreed to half that amount, but, it was observed, “a morbid mania for economy defeated the measure.”
As for local commemoration of the Centennial and Independence Day celebrations, the Express of the 10th noted that, as part of broader local event planning, “the committee on Literary Exercises” was to meet in a couple of days in the courtroom of District Court Judge Ygnacio Sepúlveda to discuss what would be conducted as part of that portion of the program. One of the members was Dr. Joseph P. Widney, who, with Juan José (Jonathan T.) Warner and Sepúlveda’s predecessor, Benjamin Hayes, would be tasked with writing a county history as part of a national initiative mentioned earlier in this post.
At least one other county community, however, had no interest in taking part in the festivities in the Angel City, as the Express of 30 May briefly reported that “it seems that the citizens of El Monte intend celebrating the Centennial Fourth at home” through a picnic that was to be extended to residents of Azusa and Duarte and other nearby locales. The event was to feature “a match game of base-ball between the El Monte and Azusa boys,” the sport in something of a revival, as well as music and dancing and the paper commented “we think after all they will enjoy themselves more in that way,” though whether this was a veiled swipe or not is not clear.
It was nearly six weeks after the Philadelphia expo opened that a California hall finally welcomed visitors and the Star of 22 June reprinted a report by telegraph that “a large crowd was in attendance and appropriate speeches were made. Notably, one orator’s “remarks were confined chiefly to the history of the Hall and the difficulties, political and financial, attendant on its erection,” which seemed to refer to the the state legislature’s hesitation in committing funds toward it. The account concluded,
After the speeches the audience was invited to a sumptuous collation [a light supper?] at which various brands of California wine flowed freely. A quantity of California products will be displayed there in a few days. The building was erected entirely by private subscriptions.
Back in Los Angeles, the 4th of July celebration was taking shape as Grand Marshal Henry M. Mitchell, a lawyer and future sheriff, who issued “CENTENNIAL ORDER NO. 1” and, apparently, the only such mandate, on 6 June. Mitchell mandated that “all societies, military and civic, trades, trade unions, and private persons intending to take part in the procession and exercises” were “invited to participate in the celebration . . . of the Centennial anniversary of American Independence.”
In so doing, they were to report to Mitchell for assignments in the parade and the ceremonies, including those “literary exercises” involving speeches and other elements. In addition to asking the city’s newspapers to copy the order until the first of July, the Marshal remarked,
It is hoped and expected that the people of Los Angeles city and county will feel such interest and take such action in the celebration of the Centennial Fourth as will make the occasion memorable in the annals of our county as well for the manner of its celebration as the great event thereby commemorated.
As June came to a close, another notable advertisement appeared in the press from Charles A. Bonesteel, whose enterprise offered a range of Centennial related items including firecrackers and fireworks, Centennial and George Washington flags, those of Ireland, France and Spain, bunting and transparent lanterns.
A Latino shopkeeper, José Dolores Guerrero, promoted his “Centennial Novelties” and told potential shoppers “that he has just returned from the grand METROPOLIS OF CALIFORNIA,” meaning San Francisco, “and has brought with him a MONSTER STOCK OF GOODS” for sale at rock bottom prices,
So as to give everybody an opportunity to show off with dignity on the coming Fourth of July—the CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THIS GLORIOUS REPUBLIC!
Jeweler and watchmaker Simon Nordlinger employed a rather wild-looking characterization in his ad as a “Centennial NOTICE!” in which this grinning personage with a massive handlebar mustache and out-of-control hair held hands outstretched and a pocket-watch displayed between them. Also announced on the first day of July was the Turnverein Germania society’s Grand Centennial Ball to be held at its Turner Hall on Spring Street on the evening of the 4th, with tickets costing a dollar.
Although it wouldn’t be in town until toward the end of the month, the circus run by Montgomery Queen, deemed “the King of Showmen” as well as “the Governor” and “The People’s True Representative,” was to appear for four days at grounds on Main Street near Fourth, which was truly in the southern suburbs of town at the time. The agglomeration, including “An Army of Men, Droves of Horses, a Multitude of Animals, A Legion of Attractions, A Forest [?] of Wild Beasts, Myriads of Birds and an Ocean [!] of Reptiles,” forming an “Aggregation of Transcendental Elegance” not to mention “Miles of Resplendent Masses of Magnificence,” was described as a “Centennial on Wheels.”
We’ll return with a concluding fourth part of this post looking at the Independence Day celebrations in Los Angeles as well as some follow-up regarding the Philadelphia exposition, so check back for that!