by Betty Jane Wilson, society president
Heralded, soon after the year of its founding, Grasshopper Falls (now Valley Falls) was renowned for its great celebrations of the Fourth of July.
The first reported by local newspaper was 1857, the same year the McCarger Bros. commenced building a new hotel in the new settlement.
The materials were on the ground and the frame raised when W.C. Butts and David Fradenburg from NewYork concluded the hotel business in the "wild and wooly west" was theirs to engage in and bought out the McCargers.
The new buyers pushed the work to completion by the Fourth of July, 1857, except for partitions and plastering upstairs. The new hotel was opened to the public on the national holiday, was named the Cataract honoring the Falls on the Grasshopper River, and a great ball was planned.
Great preparations were made for the ball. Invitations were sent, expert cooks from Leavenworth were engaged weeks in advance to prepare a grand supper. The ball was a great success. It was the windup of a gala celebration of the 4th, for which the town has ever since been noted.
The next great celebration of the Fourth, that is recorded, occurred in 1861. In April 1861, the Civil War had started. The feeling of patriotism was running high. A local militia company, the Jefferson Rifles, under Lt. Lewis Stafford, had been formed and had been enrolled on May 29th, 1861, in Company E., 1st Kansas volunteer infantry, at Leavenworth. About 1,100 people attended the event.
By eight o'clock in the morning they began to arrive. They came on foot, horseback, in lumber wagons, market wagons, carriages, buggies drawn by men, plowing teams, ponies, and thoroughbreds.
The delegation from Oskaloosa and McClenny Ridge, numbering 34 wagons, headed by Oskaloosa Guards, were met at the border of town by Jefferson Rifles and three assistant marshals for escort.
Records for 1864 report the celebration was not very enjoyable. Weather was hot, dry, and few seats and little water was available. The event was ill prepared.
There was no celebration in 1875. The state and the community were deep in financial depression caused by drought and by the plague of clouds of grasshoppers.
In 1876, the one hundreth anniversary of our national independence, Valley Falls once again prepared for a great celebration.
A bright, breezy day was ushered in with the ringing of bells and firing of guns. People from different parts of the country arrived with displays of banners and mottoes and by 10:30 a.m. the parade had started down Broadway headed by the Valley Falls coronet band. Blue Mound sent a large delegation with mottoes and banners appropriate for the occasion. All along the route, buildings were beautifully decorated with flags. A stand for speakers and singers was erected and seats provided for a great number of people.
At a grave selected by the organizers, prayers were offered, a centennial hymn was sung by the glee club, speeches by selected speakers, and after an intermission for dinner, and series of toasts and patriotic speeches continued, followed by contests, wheelbarrow and potato races. All in all a gala day for celebrating the centennial anniversary of our nation's declaration of independence.
The Fourth of July celebrations have continued through the years, changing with the times and with the whims of generations, sometimes more extravagant than others.
Transportation and communication advances influenced changes in locale and availability of more materials and equipment for greater extravangance and more sophisticated displays with patriotism, liberty, and freedom the core of each celebration.
Oratory and mock battles became less frequent and family outings, weekend trips, and simple "extra day off" gained popularity, with fireworks climaxing the day.
Happy Holiday!
The historical society museum will close at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 5.
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