Jackson County (Mo.)
Historical Society
Portals
to the Past by David W. Jackson
Kansas City Has
Long Known How to Sizzle on the Fourth
Have
you ever wondered how Kansas Citians celebrated Independence Day 100 years
ago in 1907? It wasn‘t that long ago, really. Here’s a blast from our past as
you light your sparklers, Roman candles, and smoke bombs as you grill your
hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken breasts.
The Star’s first account of how Kansas
City celebrated the nation’s birthday appeared in the near 2-year-old
newspaper in 1882 (then known as The
Evening Star). The Star’s
Independence Day coverage in 1881 had been superseded with news of the
assassination attempt on U. S. President James A. Garfield (shot on July 2,
he suffered greatly before dying on Sept. 19); naturally, firecrackers were
silent in 1881.
Streamers
about July 4th in Kansas City were more elaborate judging from the
1901 festivities celebrating the quasquicentennial (or 125th Anniversary)
of the signing of the Declaration of
Independence.
Imagine
scorching weather in a time long before the invention of air conditioning and
when women and men of the Victorian age dressed in smothering layers from
neck to wrist to toeno exceptions.
The
mercury broke all records on this day in 1901 since the weather bureau’s
establishment 13 years prior. A squelching 103.3 degrees was recorded by a very
conservative government thermometer. In fact, Kansas and Missouri afforded
the highest temperature readings in the country on July 4, 1901;
Harrisonville, Mo., registered 106 degrees. The highest previous temperature
in the bureau’s statistics up to that point had been 103 degrees in 1897.
Though
there was little relief trying to catch a breeze on the streetcars, Kansas
Citians enjoyed outdoor public entertainments at local parks, fair and
exposition grounds. Fairmount Park (which was once located along today’s
Independence Avenue/24 Highway just east of Mount Washington Cemetery between
Willow and Harris Avenues) had the largest crowd in its history. The lake was
alive with boats and the beach was thronged. You couldn’t get near the big,
cool spring. And, at the cafe, hotel and counters where refreshments were
sold, “one had to wait his turn. All over the expansive lawns tired
humanity rested. Picnic parties were too numerous to be accommodated in the
picnic grounds and the were scattered about the entire park.
That
night, a magnificent show in the sky was seen through and above the big
trees. Band concerts were the most widely enjoyed entertainment for the
thousands of people in attendance; and, the “arrangement of national airs
were particularly moving. In short, “The Fourth was celebrated noisily, continually
and elaborately.
This
anniversary celebration was so well attended that there weren’t enough
streetcars in operation to take everyone home from the Park, despite the
Metropolitan Railway Company having run all of the cars that its powerhouse
could pull on the Independence and Fairmount lines. The last streetcar left
Fairmount Park at midnight. Many who missed late-night connections in the
city had to walk home.
This
1901 Fourth of July celebration is a snapshot of life before radio,
television, TiVo, movies, computers, iPods, etc. In fact, electricity was so
new that most homes in Kansas City weren’t yet wired. The automobile had not
yet replaced the horse and wagon.
Our Kansas City
predecessors were on the verge of industrial and technological revolution and
didn’t even know it! Does this make you wonder what’s just in front of us
today?
Try keeping this reality check in the back of
your mind when projecting 100 years from now when future Kansas Citians
wonder how we celebrated our Independence Day holiday in 2007.
Will they
understand society’s seeming addiction to sports and
news that bleeds? Will they sympathize with our individual and collective
sentiment about the wars in which we are involved? Will they jeer us for not
standing up to everyday freedoms and civil rights being subtly usurped? Will
they appreciate the challenges we face today and how we overcame them? Will
our American flag be flown at half or full mast on Independence Day 2107?
Tomorrow’s
newspapers may reveal the answers.
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