The In-Between Years: Smaller Celebrations, Big Events
The anniversary of the Concord Fight has been observed in some capacity since at least 1825. Documentation of these celebrations increases significantly beginning in 1875, and despite celebrations being smaller, single-day affairs, they were jam-packed with activities and speakers. Parades and balls have occurred yearly since at least 1850, and featured speakers and presenters have ranged from local officials to writers and activists.
This broadside, inviting Concordians to assist in planning the yearly observance of the Concord Fight, was produced in 1877 for the 102nd anniversary. The event description is comparatively low-key compared with the pomp and circumstance of the Centennial just two years prior, inviting those interested to meet just eight days before the event.
The recent end of the Civil War hung heavy over the 1867 Concord Fight anniversary. The region had suffered significant loss in the war, and that year's planning committee followed the anniversary tradition of erecting monuments by commissioning an obelisk for Monument Square. The monument, still there today, is dedicated to the memory of Union soldiers from Concord who perished in the Civil War. The dedication of the monument was part of the 1867 anniversary celebration.
This special notice requesting that parade attendees not tie their horses to trees was likely posted publicly due to its printing on cardstock. It's also likely that this notice stemmed from genuine damage done to the town's trees by the tying of horses.
For the 1885 celebration, the women of the Church Aid Society planned a historic reenactment festival. The main event was the costumed reenactment of a traditional colonial household, complete with demonstrations of various "domestic customs." A coach with a costumed driver ferried people between the festival, train station, and battlefield. Throughout the three-day festival, colonial foods were served and both music and dance were performed.
The 1894 celebration was not a major anniversary, but it was the first official "Patriots' Day." Governor Frederic Greenhalge proclaimed the third Monday in April as "Patriots' Day" following a heated debate on whether to call the holiday "Lexington Day" or "Concord Day." Since 1897, the Boston Marathon has also occurred on this date.
By 1897, the single-day celebrations had grown larger. This program shows a ceremony dominated by song and audience participation. Multiple women spoke, notably Margaret Sidney (listed in the program as Mrs. Daniel Lothrop) and Julia Ward Howe. Margaret Sidney was a writer, as well as founder and president of the National Society Children of the American Revolution, a patriotic youth organization. Julia Ward Howe, a writer and activist, recited her poem, "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and gave remarks on how she wrote it.
The placement of the Civil War monument was not the only time that recent or ongoing wars influenced Concord celebrations. In 1901, with the recent end of the Spanish-American War in 1899, the annual Patriots' Day Ball was held as a benefit for the local "Spanish War Association." This was likely a local, decentralized chapter of the eventual United Spanish War Veterans, an organization for veterans of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars. The larger national organization was established several years later.
Soon after the end of World War I, the Town of Concord formed a Welcome Home Committee in order to honor those recently returned. The 1919 Concord Fight anniversary celebration specifically honored local soldiers who had fought in the war, and they were invited as guests of honor to the various festivities.