New York City has a rich history of celebrations and public displays extending to the birth of the nation. The nature of these events has varied from the visits of foreign leaders and diplomats, to the inaugurations and funerals of presidents. In them the fine lines between patriotism and propaganda, education and manipulation are faint, and sometimes even invisible. The precedent set by celebrations leading up to the Hudson-Fulton celebration in 1909 helped form the character and intent of the actual parade. The Hudson-Fulton celebration is best understood in context of the past New York City celebrations.

Hundreds of jubilees took place in the city in thes late eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. State visitations, presidential parades, holiday celebrations, and expositions are four distinct categories of celebrations which had great influence on New York City’s development as a “cosmopolis,” an international and culturally diverse city. Each contributed valuable elements which shaped the celebration and provided its attendees with a context for understanding the festivities. Particular events which highlighted these four categories provide a general context for understanding the idea of pageantry prior to Hudson Fulton in 1909. Pageantry itself is a difficult term to define, and the debate surrounding its meaning engulfed the American Pageant Association for years.^[1] However, pageantry in 1909 can be defined as the re-enactment and celebration of national historical events in order to foster a communal identity.

State Visitors to New York City: From Politicians to Celebrities

The visits of state officials and foreign diplomats, often of royal status, were in a sense the origin of a tradition of city wide celebrations in New York. The reception of the Marquis de Lafayette in 1824 was one of the first notable instances of such an occasion.^[2] The Marquis de Lafayette was well known throughout America as a symbol of France ’s contributions to the revolutionary effort. Their military support, as commanded by Lafayette, turned the tide of the war. Americans recognized their victory over the British Empire was due largely in part to Lafayette. This made him a figure of great patriotic and national regard.

Lafayette arrived in the New York harbor on August 15, 1824, and stayed the night in a private residence on Staten Island. He was greeted by seven decorated steamboats with two hundred sailors on board, and fifty thousand bystanders.^[3] New Yorkers welcomed this hero of the Revolution with all due pomp and circumstance, throwing special receptions at City Hall, followed by fireworks and rocket shows.

Lafayette met with academics, members of political and military offices, and had parades and banquets held especially in his honor.^[4] He reviewed public schools and met local fireman who had a special exhibition in his honor. The culmination of his celebration was the great Lafayette Ball held at Castle Garden which was attended by six thousand New Yorkers. On Independence Day, he reviewed the troops and a massive fireworks display was held again at Castle Garden, a popular venue for events located in Battery Park. Various souvenirs depicting Lafayette’s image were sold not only in New York, but throughout the country.^[5] This practice would be repeated in the cases of other celebrity visits in the years to come.

Lafayette’s visit established two important things. Firstly, that Americans should hold festivities for personages who contributed to the founding of the nation, and the perpetuation of its ideals. Secondly, it established that these festivities should be broadly representative of American society. After all, the Marquis was a military man, yet he was not only given a military procession. In 1909, both Henry Hudson and Robert Fulton were two figures who contributed to the perpetuation of American ideals, namely that of courage, innovation, and progress. Both were celebrated in a way which included numerous aspects of New York City, not only its industrial and maritime complex. Thus the Marquis de Lafayette’s visit set the standard for the toasts of future heroes such as in the Hudson-Fulton celebration of 1909.

In 1860, the Prince of Wales visited New York. By this decade, celebrations centered on individual political figures with a growing emphasis on local civic involvement. Public figures of pre-eminence such as Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and Martin Van Buren were greeted with similar, though less lavish, festivities than their predecessors.^[6] As more artists and writers were honored the emphasis in pageants shifted from public to private, and from civic to social, and even at times extended an invitation to women.

The reception for Charles Dickens, a widely read and widely popular international author, included a “Boz Ball” especially aimed at including women. Organizers for the event even had trouble procuring tickets for themselves, as they sold-out so quickly. Balls were the great social arenas of the era and thus in great demand.^[7] A more orchestrated event was that of singer Jenny Lind’s visit in 1850. P.T. Barnum himself, rather than a committee of welcomers, organized the festivities. Yet again, the focus shifted from issues of local and national pride to publicity, prestige, and profit.^[8]

What did this shift mean for the Hudson-Fulton Celebration in 1909? The celebration, in a sense, became a hybrid of the patriotic and the profitable. The theme of the parade was certainly in line with previous celebrations for national figures who had achieved something benefiting the common good. Both Hudson and Fulton had done this with their respective exploration of the Hudson River and perfection of the steamboat. However the immense number of tourists at the Hudson-Fulton Celebration generated huge revenue for the city of New York. Certainly, such revenue was the main reason that New York had envied the Columbian Exposition sixteen years earlier.

Yet another foreign visit to the city of note was that of the Japanese ambassadors. Commodore Matthew C. Perry had opened Japan to U.S. trade by the 1850s, and in response to the need for increased diplomatic efforts between the two nations the Japanese sent a seventy person delegation to Philadelphia and New York. The general population, in contrast to previous visitors, considered the visitors to be little more than “dime museum curiousities.”^[9] The currents of racial tension, and bigotry which lingered on the surface of the average city dweller’s mind were made apparent in the press and detailed personal accounts of George Templeton Strong, who described the ambassadors in the following manner: “. . . yellow kids trying to look like gentleman. . . the subordinates grinned, and wagged their ugly heads, and waved their fans to the ladies in the windows.”^[10] The general racist attitude that was privately held, even if not publicly displayed, would haunt future celebrations. Marginalized groups, such as Native Americans, would be held up as spectacles and oddities, while other groups, such as African-Americans, would be completely excluded in 1909.

In contrast, a second celebration for Welsh royalty was shown the highest sense of decorum and respect. When the young Prince of Wales visited the city in 1860, security was greatly improved. The importance of Fifth Avenue increased as it became a venue for the social elite to “wine and dine” European royalty. The ball for the prince especially reflected this shift in attitude, and New Yorkers’ increasing obsession with high society. The list of guests was specially chosen, and tickets were granted at the price of seventy dollars, a steep sum at the time. Despite this, attendance was overwhelming, so much so that the building in which it was held was damaged and had to be repaired on the spot.^[11]

By the time of the Hudson-Fulton celebration in 1909 such grandiose affairs were still very much in fashion. Though certainly the celebration was not exclusively for the wealthy, the patrons of the parade remained men of great wealth and power. The Hudson-Fulton parade was aimed at educating the public at large, but those who held the purse strings of the celebration had the final word in the proceedings and the content of the parade. The upper classes of the late nineteenth century still held all their old influence at the turn of the century, and at the time of the Hudson-Fulton celebration.

By the time of the Civil War, New Yorkers were growing more concerned about the possibility of rioting and public safety, as well as the cost of holding elaborate events. Despite this, presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew Johnson were both honored in the years that followed. In 1871, the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia was received. The behavior of the crowds was decried as both unruly and disgraceful, further elevating city dwellers’ fears of rioting. However, the fact that this celebration took place just on the heels of the Orange Riots contributed in a large part to the sense of uncertainty.^[12]

The celebration was becoming more than a time of peaceful, and perhaps slightly rowdy jubilation. It had the potential to become something far more sinister—a means of social unrest and airing of grievances. Hudson-Fulton sought to counter-act such fears with its message of a common national identity and unity for all peoples. However, the racial and socio-economic realities of the time left much to be desired. Though they were sufficiently suppressed throughout the celebration, they could be glimpsed at various times through the celebration’s depiction of Native Americans and its exclusion of other racial minorities. In fact, it would be inaccurate to believe that such tensions did not contribute to a general air of overly positive and exaggerated accomplishment in 1909.

Presidential Events in New York City: From Inaugurations to Funerals

Two of the most important events having to do with the executive office were that of Washington’s inauguration, and Lincoln’s funeral. These two celebrations, held in their honor, were influential and precedent-setting. Washington’s inauguration was preceded by the Constitution Celebration and Federal Procession. Patriotic fervor was high, and the novelty of the mere office of President-elect undoubtedly a source of excitement and speculation. On April 23, 1789, Washington arrived in the city. He was greeted by a committee and brought to the Battery, before sailing over the North River in a forty-seven foot long elaborate ferry. He was welcomed by other boats, some carrying whole choirs which sang to the soon to be inaugurated president. Upon disembarking near Wall Street, Washington was presented by the Mayor and Governor of New York, as well as an assembly of city officials to the people of New York. ^[13]

Washington was sworn into office at Federal Hall on Broad Street. The immense crowd and military procession which accompanied the celebration would become essential to the American parade. Notably, after his inaugural address Washington and others went to Saint Paul’s Church for a service in the evening, followed by a two hour fireworks show. On May seventh, an Inauguration Ball was held in his honor with three hundred attendees. Even Washington’s wife Martha was brought into the city with an entourage and a salute from ships in the harbor. As Brooks Mcnamara states in his Day of Jubilee:

. . . the Washington Inauguration represented a new phase in the ceremonial life of eighteenth-century . The two events were still, at base, small-town affairs, and both depended on longstanding traditions about the organization of public celebrations. . . . by the late eighties. . . there was probably a more conscious attempt to imitate and perhaps even rival the great civic displays of London. . . As a result of it all, a new sense of self-importance and even opulence was beginning to creep in, which would inform the public celebrations of the century that followed.^[14]

Indeed, the celebrations of the eighteenth century set the standard for elaborate parades like Hudson-Fulton. Washington’s inauguration was in a sense the first (and seemly humble in comparison) “seed” planted. It would grow into a flourishing tradition of celebrating popular political and war heroes. One individual was worth having a celebration over, and in the case of Hudson-Fulton Celebration, two individuals. Sometimes the elaborateness of the festivities was not of a celebratory nature at all, but rather of reverence and mourning. Whatever the nature of the event, unity remained a characteristic theme.

After President Lincoln died in April of 1865, cities and towns across the nation went into displays of mourning. Stores were closed and hung black and white muslin from the windows. Flags were posted at half-mast, and crape decorated columns and curtains. The train which carried the president’s body to Springfield, Illinois, stopped in New York on the 24^th of April. His remains were brought over the North River from Jersey City to be displayed publicly at City Hall.^[15] More than half a million people showed up to mourn the president.

His coffin would be taken along Broadway to the Hudson River train depot where it would proceed to Springfield. Sixteen horses drew the car through the streets, flanked by soldiers. Black ostrich plumes and draped black material, along with flags, decorated the car itself. Eleven thousand members of the armed forces participated in the march, as well as hundreds of officials from the national and international community. Notably, there were three hundred black participants who marched at the end of the parade. This number had been originally intended to be five thousand but many black marchers were discouraged and prevented from participating. The Secretary of War himself had intervened in order to allow the three hundred marchers entry. The event was the most elaborate and widely attended public funeral which had ever been held in New York.^[16] Certainly, the celebratory nature of an event like Hudson-Fulton was lacking in this case of a presidential funeral. However, the reverence afforded Lincoln, and the very idea that a procession could be a proper vehicle for showing reverence, gave the idea of celebrations credibility.

The Holiday Celebration: A Myth in the Making or A Venue for Social Unity?

Seasonal and holiday events had great appeal, as they represented the familiar traditional practices of communities which felt the need to establish roots in the new nation. Notable holidays which were celebrated in greater New York included the Fourth of July Independence Day celebrations, Evacuation Day, Saint Patrick’s Day, and Columbus Day. Richard Gowers describes the tension surrounding the way in which the nation’s independence should be celebrated:

Recreation replaced formality on the nation’s birthday and the Chicago Tribune’s glib phrase in 1873 was that the old formal Fourth of July had become ‘mouldy with age.’ This perception rested not only on the movement of people away from parading and towards recreational pursuits but also on the belief that the traditional Fourth of July oration that rehashed opposition to Britain was unwarranted within post-bellum America .^[17]

Fireworks displays and public dinners were both of great importance and great controversy. Temperance advocates criticized the drunken revelry that often surrounded the celebration.^[18] Peopled contested whether the Fourth of July should be stoically patriotic and noble or a time of rowdy celebration.

A lesser known, but widely celebrated holiday was that of Evacuation Day. Evacuation Day celebrated British troop’s withdrawal from New York after the war. While Independence Day reflected a national celebration, Evacuation Day was a more local holiday.^[19] The Fourth of July in effect eclipsed the holiday in its essential function as celebrating the end of the war. However, the dying holiday was revived both in 1865 and 1883 before decidedly being celebrated by a shrinking number of New Yorkers.

Saint Patrick’s Day, though strongly associated with Roman Catholicism, was actually Protestant in its origins. British soldiers of Irish and Protestant descent first celebrated the holiday as a show of national identity. However, by the early part of the nineteen century, the majority of Irish Americans were new Catholic immigrants who appropriated the holiday for themselves. The Orange Riots of the late eighteen sixties and early eighteen seventies turned public opinion against St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. The long history of violence between Protestants and Catholics celebrating the victory of William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne plauged the holiday. In 1867 a few people were killed after a riot, but by 1871 over a hundred people were wounded or killed as a result of the festivities. Despite these events St. Patrick’s Day continued to be celebrated by underprivileged and marginalized Irish-Catholics seeking to establish bonds of solidarity and a sense of pride and belonging.^[20] The mere fact that celebrations were seen as an appropriate vehicle for establishing such solidarity makes them immensely powerful. The lessons of these immigrant groups were not lost on progressive reformers seeking to establish such solidarity among all New Yorkers during the Hudson-Fulton parade.

Columbus Day and the perpetuation of the “Columbus myth” by Italian-Americans were at their height at the turn of the century. In 1792, the Tammany Society, also known as the Columbian Order, organized the first celebration of Columbus’ voyage. Non-American Italians did not participate in the celebrations until 1892, while Italian-Americans had a tradition of celebrating Columbus since the 1840s.^[21] Much in the way that Irish-Americans sought to display their pride and ethnic identity through celebrating a saint, Italian-Americans became more assertive as their numbers increased.

Discrimination against both groups led to virtual second class citizenship which spurred on efforts to be identified with a positive and meaningful historical personage like Columbus. The celebration of Columbus Day went a step further in not only consolidating Italian-Americans as peers of equal standing with “native” English and Dutch American counterparts, but also in giving them a claim to being natural born sons and heirs of the American soil. Unity through a shared religious tradition between Irish and Italian led to non-Italian organizations like the Knights of Columbus seeking to use the holiday as a means of unifying fellow Roman Catholics. In any case, Columbus Day became a means of both assimilation and restoration, perhaps two goals possible only in a land of immigrants.^[22] Hudson-Fulton can be seen as an answer to those employing Columbus Day as a means for assimilation. Those who organized the 1909 celebration were interested in reaching a broad range of ethnic backgrounds of the New York immigrant. However, they also sought to assimilate these immigrants by giving them a shared history in the same way that Italian-Americans looked to history for a means of establishing themselves as legitimate heirs of a democratic society.

Expositions: The Columbian Exposition and the Columbian Celebration

When Chicago was granted the privilege of holding the Columbian Exposition in 1893, New Yorkers were less than pleased. In the spirit of competition New York held its own celebration in 1892 (the Chicago exposition was a year late due to logistical difficulties) calling it the Columbian Celebration. The celebration began on October eighth and lasted until the thirteenth. Processions and naval parades as well as lavish dinners continued to honor Columbus much in the way of previous celebrations. Nearly two million attendees made the parade one of the largest New Yorkers had ever seen.^[23]

However, a compromise was in order, and as the next year arrived so did European tourists and officials who began to stop in New York on their way to Chicago. In response, half a million dollars were devoted to their entertainment in a show of goodwill. New York was not happy that Chicago had been allowed to have the Columbian Exposition when it considered itself the national center of commerce and innovation. However, the celebration of Hudson-Fulton in 1909 would allow New York to claim its place as America ’s preeminent stage for pageantry and celebration.

The visuals and the scale of events made Hudson Fulton not only a history lesson, but also a spectacle. Expositions and fairs which predated 1909 used “spectacle” as a means of attracting both locals and tourists. The spectacle is less concerned with content than it is with making an emotional impact on the spectator’s imagination and exciting their passions. The intense displays of floats and decoration, often of a highly literary and narrative nature, made the Hudson-Fulton parade just such a spectacle.

Each of these four types of celebrations contributed elements to the Hudson-Fulton Celebration. Aspects of pre-1909 celebrations set precedents which were incorporated into later parades and festivities. The numerous city-wide welcomes for state visitors developed American nationalism in grand displays of military and economic power. The desire to impress foreign dignitaries translated into a broader desire to impress foreign powers, hence the massive military and naval displays seen in 1909. In turn, presidential parades utilized patriotism to promote unity. They identified one political leader as a figure of collective respect and admiration. Henry Hudson and Robert Fulton were held up similarly as figures who guarded the nation’s development and were worthy of collective praise.

Holidays provided a sense of ethnic identity and celebrated both diversity and traditional historical narrative. In 1909, special displays of Native Americans, as well as the immigrant presence, were bolstered by previous displays of cultural customs. For example, St. Patrick’s Day Parades, and the Columbus Day celebrations by Irish and Italian Americans gave such displays greater context and credibility. The observance of religious and ethnic holidays was by Hudson-Fulton’s time a common practice. It made the idea of a celebration for these two individuals less foreign—even to foreigners. Lastly, expositions promoted tourism, and a culture of consumerism in which historical pageantry found its commercial purpose. Hudson-Fulton, like the exhibitions, sought to be a grand spectacle for curious observers besides seeking to educate and establish a common heritage for New Yorkers and Americans alike.

By the time of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, New York City had come to see itself not simply as a place, but as the place for celebrations of national and international significance. The long history of city wide events celebrating figures and occasions of political and social importance to the nation set the standard for 1909. The fine line between patriotism and propaganda, and education and manipulation yet again became a source of contention and innovation for the new generation to construct according to its own interpretation about what deserves to be celebrated.