1900: "No Better Gift"
Track and field event listing from a scorecard, 1900.
Front side of a commemorative coin, 1900.
Back side of a commemorative coin, 1900.
The 125th anniversary was, compared to other major anniversaries, a more modest celebration. Despite the fact that planning had only begun one year earlier, the day was jam-packed with activities, beginning with a 45-gun salute. The day continued with the parade, a fireworks show, literary exercises, and a ball. Athletic competitions were on the program for the first time with track and field events and bicycle races. For the first time, a commemorative coin was produced for the occasion, depicting the Minute Man statue.
The Middlesex Hotel, c. late 1800s.
The plans of the 1900 Committee of Arrangements to develop the land on which the abandoned Middlesex Hotel sat.
The Middlesex Hotel was a Concord mainstay throughout the 19th century. While it had been the premier destination for Concord’s Centennial, it closed only seven years later in 1882. In keeping with the tradition of installing permanent memorials for each anniversary, four members of the Committee of Arrangements bought the land and sold it back to the town in order to build a park. The former site of the hotel is now a memorial to local veterans.
A man inspects the remains of the First Parish Church, 1900.
Just one week before the celebration, Concord’s First Parish Church was destroyed in a fire. The church had been undergoing renovations for months in order to visually improve the interior for the 125th anniversary. Ironically, the fire may have been caused by rags left behind after the renovation was completed.