Planning and Preparation

The idea of a historical parade for the celebration was originally suggested in 1905, during the very earliest stages of planning. At this point the event was to be solely the tercentenary commemoration of Henry Hudson’s original sail up the Hudson River. In the intervening years, the Commission toyed with the idea of a historical pageant instead of a parade. But in the summer of 1908, they chose to put on a parade because “it was desired to present the scenes to the view of the largest number of spectators possible and free of charge” [i] . Beginning in November of that year, the planning was overseen by A.H. Stoddard, the Captain of Pageantry. Stoddard had years of experience with parades and with historical pageantry while living in New Orleans and organizing their great Mardi Gras celebration. Construction for the floats began approximately two months later, under the direction of the Historical and Carnival Parades Committee [ii] .

The carnival parade had a shorter planning period than its historical partner event, beginning in May of 1909. Preparation for the carnival parade was aided tremendously by the participation of all of the German Societies of the five boroughs in New York. The German societies were participants in consultation and planning for the carnival parade because A.H. Stoddard, the Captain of Pageantry mentioned above, was impressed with Germany’s, Austria’s, and Switzerland’s long history of pageantry; he was convinced that “a support from these societies would assure a success” [iii] . The German societies were very enthusiastic about the project, and they organized a board of officers to consult in business matters with the Commission and to oversee the float construction and organization for the event. This board had their own office on 146 East 59th street, and they worked tirelessly for four months in preparation for the celebration without any pay [iv] .

Most of this preparation, for both the historical and carnival parades, took place in the Bronx. The Commission rented two buildings on 149th street by the Harlem River to serve as a factory space for the construction of the floats. The two buildings were joined to form one large workspace, nicknamed “the Den,” which was traditional in New Orleans. New Orleans, in fact, played an important role in the parades for the Celebration – artists and artisans based in New Orleans were brought to New York, where they helped in float construction and also taught local workers their craft. At the height of the work going on in the Den, in July of 1909, 160 men and women were engaged in float design, modeling, and construction [v] .

The floats themselves were taken very seriously -- indeed, “no pains were spared to have the workmanship conform to the best standard of this class of handicraft” [vi] . Subjects for the floats were chosen by the Historical and Carnival Parades Committee, and then designed and mocked up in a colored sketch. For the historical parade, these had to be submitted to the New York Historical Society for accuracy and the addition of any necessary detail [vii] . Once approved and edited, the designs could at last be brought to the Den and its master craftsmen. The mobile base of every float was a truck, and the upper portions were first roughly constructed with timber and wire mesh, and then covered with either stucco or papier maché. The Den was also consistently busy with craftsmen – brought up from New Orleans specifically for the Celebration -- creating decorations to be included on the floats, from cows to women to cabbage, which were also made with papier maché, and blacksmiths forging iron supports or chains for the floats. Once they were assembled, the floats were painted and gilded with tinsel. The floats were also extremely large – measuring thirty-two feet long and fourteen feet wide, and ranging from twenty to forty feet high. As we will see later, the enormity of this spectacle at times inhibited the parade’s progress, but the parade’s message of grandeur was successfully communicated [viii] .

The Floats of the Historical Parade

Although all the floats that were to appear in the historical and carnival parades were constructed at the same location and in the same manner, there was a great deal of variety in what those floats depicted. Those overall themes were, of course, made obvious in the terms “historical” and “carnival,” but these words are too broad to accurately describe what the floats depicted.

The goal of the historical parade was twofold: “to illustrate by moving tableaux memorable scenes in the history of the City and State for public education and entertainment,” and also to “unite the procession the representative of as many as possible of the nationalities composing the cosmopolitan population of the State, so as to make them feel that the heritage of the State’s history belonged to them as well as to those more distinctively American” [ix] . These lofty goals provided an overall path for the event, but the scope of the historical parade dictated a need for more specific planning and detailed organization.  

This organization was created through numbers and chronology – the parade consisted of fifty-four floats divided into four divisions. These divisions constituted the “periods” of New York history up until 1909 – the Indian Period, the Dutch Period, the English or Colonial Period, and the American or United States Period, also referred to as the Modern Period [x] . The Indian Period had ten floats, the Dutch Period had twelve, the Colonial Period, eighteen, and the United States Period, thirteen. Additionally, each division of the parade had a title car that introduced its focus. An enormous float preceded all four divisions – this was the title car for the event as a whole. This massive introduction to the parade’s theme depicted “The History of the Empire State,” and included (among other things) a canoe and a steamboat, a wigwam and a skyscraper, and the Statue of Liberty, thus displaying New York’s technological and historical progress of the previous three hundred years [xi] .  Among all the detail with which the Historical Parade and its floats were planned, the overall goals of the event should not be forgotten – the Commission wanted those who viewed it to feel as if this living history belonged to them. Thus these particular divisions depicted what 1909 New Yorkers saw as important and praiseworthy events in their state’s and their nation’s history. And the floats within the divisions were there both to teach and to delight their audience.

The official souvenir of the “Historical Pageant,” published by the Commission (via Redfield Brothers, Inc), was intended to inform spectators more fully of the historical episodes the floats attempted to illustrate. It includes some New York history along with photographs of the floats. The souvenir focuses primarily on the Iroquois nations and their impact on the histories of both New York and America generally. According to the souvenir, the Native American Period was included in the parade because:

[The Iroquois] stood as a bulwark between the French and the Dutch, and later between the French and the English, and thus were largely influential in preserving their hunting grounds for the Anglo-Saxon race. But slight mention is made of them in our school histories, and little opportunity is given our boys and girls to learn what an important part they played in the early part of our colonial and national life. [xii]

The Indian division of the parade’s ten floats included Native American historical events of import, such as the formation of the Five Nations’ Iroquois League of Confederacy, and legends, like the famous one of Hiawatha. But there were also many floats in the division that depicted the Iroquois relationship to nature, and specifically their customs and ceremonies for each individual season. For example, a float in the Indian Period depicting winter has a snow-covered landscape and several men performing a dance to appease the Great Spirit, according to Native American legend about the coming of winter [xiii] . Many of the floats, in fact, included traditional Iroquois dances. These dances were performed by seventy men, women and children of the Iroquois who lived on reservations in upstate New York. “These Indians, dressed in their native costumes, and still speaking the language of their ancestors” the undersecretary to the Commission writes, “were the objects of intense interest alike to the American spectators and to the official representatives of foreign nations at the Court of Honor, before whom they paused and executed a ceremonial dance.” [xiv]

The Indian Period of the parade was followed by the Dutch Period, a historical focus which was prevalent throughout the two weeks of the Hudson-Fulton celebration and all over America at the time of the event. Thus, the official souvenir of the historical parade, in its initial introduction to the Dutch division of floats, is effusive in its summary of Holland’s contribution to the United States and the world:

Manhattan Island has always been looked upon as related to the Dutch, and justly so, as they comprised the first colony established, and their laws and usages formed the policy which governed the region for years. The Dutch were a brave and cultured people, loving liberty and education. Their fight for freedom is one of the most heroic chapters in history. Their universities and schools are famous. Their art galleries rival those of any other country…They were great navigators in the days when the seas were comparatively unknown, and they were enterprising tailors and merchants. The descendents of the early Dutch colonists are proud of their ancestors, and many customs remain to this day which were brought to this country by them. [xv]

These ideas were in full force in 1909, and had impressive power throughout the Hudson-Fulton Celebration.

While the Indian Period’s floats were largely loose depictions of Native American legend and tradition, The Dutch Period’s twelve floats were instead a chronological history of the Dutch people’s discovery and colonization of and ensuing legacy with New York and America. And of course, because Henry Hudson himself was Dutch, his presence was felt during this division of the parade, through one float of the Half Moon, the vessel on which he sailed the Hudson River, and another depicting his unfortunate fate – the mutiny and desertion of his crew [xvi] . Many of the proceeding floats essentially made manifest the exalted Dutch virtues; scenes of Dutch adventures on Manhattan Island that magnify their perseverance, scholarship, and honesty. The division also included, however, some scenes that emphasized the development of New Amsterdam – such as a float showing the Bowling Green, the city’s oldest park. The final float of the Dutch Period had a more cultural, rather than historical, emphasis – it showed St. Nicholas in his sleigh and his reindeer [xvii] . This was an effective way to end this division because as both patron saint of Dutch children and a popular figure in the United States, one can infer that the float was a widely appealing one – this was an effective way to once again link Dutch culture with American traditions.

The historical parade’s third division, the Colonial Period, took a far different attitude towards England’s role in New York than Holland’s. The general narrative for this division of the parade was mostly about the struggles between the Crown and the colonists leading up to the Revolutionary War; the Period includes a float showing the first inauguration of the President [xviii] . Colonial scenes included the passing of the Stamp Act, the destruction of George III’s statue during the Revolution, and the publishing of the State Constitution.  Floats such as these linked regional history with national history, and regional pride with national pride. The Revolutionary War was the subject of so many floats because of both its exciting nature – very conducive to performance – and because of its assertion of the independence and courage of the American people.

Not every float was militarily or politically themed, however: there were floats meant to depict Colonial culture and custom, such as “the Colonial home” float, which showed domestic life in New York City at the time, and Colonial folklore floats such as the legend of Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow [xix] .

The Modern Period division of the historical parade had a strong emphasis on the commercial and technological advances of Americans and New Yorkers in the intervening years between the Colonial Age and 1909. It was in this division that the Robert Fulton float, the other main honoree of the celebration, made its appearance in the parade – immediately following the Modern Period’s title car was a miniature of the Clermont, Fulton’s steamboat that he sailed up the Hudson River in 1807 and revolutionized navigation [xx] . And the Clermont float was not the only boat float; Fulton’s ferry and a canal boat on the Eerie Canal were also depicted, and advances in transportation in general were highlighted in floats showing an old fire engine and an old Broadway sleigh [xxi] . New York’s grandeur was also on full display. For example, the penultimate float of this Celebration was dedicated to the Statue of Liberty.      

The historical parade was an ambitious endeavor – to attempt to show three hundred years of complex New York history on fifty-four moving floats on the streets of the city was a challenging undertaking. Study of these floats today provides great insight into the ideas of the day on history, on education, and on themselves – for this is in essence a self-representational narrative, and one that attempted to convey its message visually while in motion, no small task. The historical parade attempted to show the greatness, continuity, and progress of the United States generally and New York specifically, all through visuals moving down a street. A similar attempt to glorify the city and the country was made with the floats of the carnival parade, but the Commission used a different method to convey its message.

The Floats of the Carnival Parade

The floats for the carnival parade, while created at the Den alongside those of the historical parade, with the same materials, and by the same craftsmen, had a broader cultural focus, and so differed in subject from the other floats under construction.

The word “carnival” of the event’s title fails to provide much insight into the message of the parade, as it can mean any number of types of celebrations depending on the context of its use. In America prior to 1909, “carnival” was a grand festivity celebrated in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and in Europe, carnivals took on various forms depending on the country or the holiday. However, the official souvenir that accompanied the carnival parade explains that in the context of the event, ‘carnival’ was meant simply to indicate “general public festivity, without the association of any sectarian ideas with it.” [xxiii] In other words, this event was designed for mass appeal. And so while ‘fun’ was perhaps more highly emphasized in this parade’s message than in that of the historical parade, the Undersecretary to the Commission explains in his official report that a more serious aim was also present in the floats of the carnival parade:

The Carnival Pageant illustrated that great body of Old World folklore, which has inspired so much of the beautiful imagery of the poetry, song and drama of all civilized nations. Although the legends and allegories represented were not indigenous to America, yet they form a real part of our culture, inherited, like the cumulative facts which constitute our progressive civilization, from the past. In a comparatively new country like ours the earliest efforts of the settlers are directed to the conquest of nature and the amelioration of physical conditions. Later, with the accumulation of wealth, comes a degree of comfort and leisure which permits the mind to turn more freely to intellectual culture. American civilization, young as it is, has advanced to the stage where it appreciates its intellectual heritage from the Old World, and nowhere in this country is that heritage more highly prized than in New York City and State. The Carnival Parade, therefore, was something more than a jollification and a merrymaking. It was designed to recall the poetry of myth, legend, allegory, and in a few cases of historic fact, which while foreign in local origin, is an heritage of universal possession and belongs to all nations. [xxiv]

This lofty goal – “to recall the poetry of myth, legend, allegory…” was important to the Celebration because an event like the carnival parade was an opportunity to link myths, legends and allegories with New York, and thus to provide the city with a legacy, a continuity, and a status on par with grand, old European cities. This link was illustrated by the wide-ranging subjects of the carnival parade’s floats, of which there were fifty, “larger and more elaborate than anything ever constructed in this country.” [xxv]  

Unlike its sister event, the historical parade, the carnival parade was not divided up into divisions. It did, however, have a grand title car – a dragon spouting flames and carrying a scroll bearing the theme of the parade – “Music, Literature, and Art.” [xxvi] The following forty-nine floats proceeded to illustrate what was suggested in the title. There were several straight allegorical floats, portraying “colors,” “peace,” and “song,” and depicting scenes like “The Crowning of Beethoven,” a float upon which a bust of the composer was crowned by “Fame,” and surrounded by dancing “Muses.” But the themes were also represented through mythology. Floats illustrated tales from the Bible, a Queen of Sheba float; from German folklore, floats of Lorelei, the Death of Fafner, and so on; from classical mythology, floats of Medusa and Diana; from fairytales,  a fairies float and a Cinderella float; from Egyptian customs, and so on. The culture represented was extensive. The final float of the Carnival Parade brought the focus back to America, with a representation of “Uncle Sam Welcoming the Nations,” displaying the hospitality and peaceful desires of the United States [xxvii] . The floats on mythology and culture of the “Old World” showed the desires of the country and of New York City to be counted among the great nations of the globe that had given birth to that mythology and culture. This massive display of cultural appreciation was designed to ensure that the spectators of the parade felt that same appreciation. But when the Hudson-Fulton Celebration at last began, how did the audience receive these educational and festive floats?

The Days of the Parades

 The Historical Parade was met with mixed results – sources differ on how well the moving history lesson was received [xxviii] . The parade took place on September 28, 1909, beginning at one o’clock in the afternoon. It formed at Central Park West and 110th street, the proceeded down to Central Park South and across the park to Fifth Avenue, where it travelled to its final destination at Washington Square [xxix] . Like the floats themselves, the path was ambitious – a six mile trek [xxx] , not just for wheeling floats but for the thousands of people acting out the scenes on them and for those who marched alongside. Participated represented the diversity of the city it celebrated – “not only were the historical characters on the floats impersonated by students from the Universities…but about twenty different nationalities were represented in the marching bodies constituting the escorts of honor” [xxxi] .

Unfortunately, the weather of the preceding days caused some disorganization on the day of the parade itself – there was some concern that the festivities were going to be rained out as late as Tuesday morning. When the sun came out and the Weather Bureau assured the Commission that rain was not a danger, the Commission no longer had the time to chronologically order the floats [xxxii] . However, the New York Times reported that this did not adversely affect the crowds of nearly two million people who gathered to watch the parade: “It might have been a little incongruous to see Washington taking the oath of office before the Half Moon sailed the Hudson, but as both were true, it did not seem to matter much.” [xxxiii]

The general population was delighted and impressed with the massive floats and their tableaux. Children were excited at scenes they recognized from schoolbooks [xxxiv] , and spectators generally agreed it was the “’best parade I ever saw.’” [xxxv]

Not everyone saw the parade as a rousing success. The Evening Post was disappointed in the unrealistic nature of many of the float’s scenes, or in other words the lack of artistic realism on display in the parade; Gustav Kobbé criticized the parade as tawdry and undignified for a city attempting to illustrate its grandeur [xxxvi] .

But Kobbé acknowledged that the crowds thronging the streets – indeed, the parade’s main intended audience – were delighted:

Those parts that were carried out successfully were watched with deep interest; while those too obviously devoid of merit were accepted by participants and spectators alike as touches of comedy to be enjoyed and laughed at…thus with the American crowd’s unique capacity for adapting itself to circumstances, it was impressed when others might have yawned, it laughed when others might have growled. It was there to enjoy itself and it did. [xxxvii]

This response may not have been entirely what the Commission planned for with its mobile history lesson, but it is clear that the audience was impacted by what they saw, which in the end was one of the main goals of the Hudson-Fulton Commission.

The Carnival Parade was held later in the week, on the evening of October 2, 1909. It traversed the same route as the Historical Parade [xxxviii] . One can imagination that the lights that were hung along the streets, illuminating the floats under the night sky, contributed a festive atmosphere that enhanced the feeling of a carnival such as would happen in New Orleans or Europe. According to the New York Times, the illuminations and “electric city” added immeasurably to the experience of the evening and its events [xxxix] . The Carnival Parade, like its sister event, was attended by massive crowds [xl] . It was generally received well, although less has been written or remarked about it than the historical parade. The Times was positive, if vague, in its review of the event the following day: “The carnival parade, arranged by the German, Austrian, and Swiss societies of the city, which closed New York’s Hudson-Fulton Celebration last night, was by no means the least attractive feature of the celebration. The fifty floats were picturesque, the marchers were gorgeously arrayed, and…the floats and their attendant armies of marchers had a worthy setting.” [xli]

Both the historical and carnival parades were met with decent success. New Yorkers’ evident enjoyment of the spectacle indicates that the Celebration Commission did its job well. Its messages of continuity, progress, and grandeur were present along with the floats, but it is difficult to evaluate the popular response to these intended lessons. Regardless of whether they understood the Commission’s messages, the audience enjoyed both parades.  The crowd itself, delighting in its city, may in fact have been the more important spectacle in New York’s history than the massive floats that depicted it.