1912- Twentieth of May Parade

The Charlotte Evening Chronicle 5/20/1912, sec. 1, pp.1-2,6

Twentieth of May Celebration Begins With Mammoth Parade  

Crowds Estimated At From 25,000 to 30,000 People See First Auspicious Feature of The Three-Day’s Program  

Events of the Celebration Will Include Aeroplane Flights, Parades and other Features  

Visitors To The City Estimated At From 5,000 to 10,000 – First Aeroplane Flight This Afternoon At 2:30 o’clock-Manufacturers’ Exposition Will Be Thrown Open Tuesday Morning, With Formal Exercises At Night-Other Events Of The Celebration.  

The climax of months of labor and planning, the realization of large and extensive purposes, was reached today when the celebration of May Twentieth, the 137th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in the little village of Charlottetown, was formally ushered in by a monster parade that covered 20 city blocks and was witnessed by 25,000 to 30,000 people, including an estimated attendance of 5,000 to 10,000 visitors.  

For days the city has been living in expectation of the coming of the week and the interest of thousands has been directed towards the gala festivities which had their beginning this morning.  

The crowds, while not equal to those attending the celebration upon the event of the visit of President Taft, were well ahead of any previous celebrations, the above excepted, and it is generally conceded that the majority of the visitors will be here for Tuesday’s festivities.  

The program, including aeroplane flights, Manufacturers’ exposition, baseball, a not unimportant feature of the week, Red Men’s parade, and other attractions, has been widely advertised over the country and the outside attendance will be all that was anticipated. The central committee and other committees who have made this week’s program possible have been the recipients of many congratulations upon the excellent work which they have performed in behalf of Charlotte.  

Parade Moves at 11 A. M.  

The rattle of the drums of the Charlotte Drum Corps at 11 0’clock down North Tryon Street announced to the thousands in waiting that the parade was on the way.  

The long pageant of floats, automobiles and up-to-date features was led by several squads of mounted policemen with scouts ahead to clear the streets of traffic.  

The drum corps followed, wearing uniforms of white and red.  

Next came the Greater Charlotte Club carriage, in which rode Messrs. C. C. Hook, C. W. Parker, chairman of the Manufactures Exposition, E. M. Cole and others.  

The “Thirteen Original States” were represented by the float following, each young lady carrying a flag on which was inscribed the name of one of the thirteen States which first constituted the Union. This float was one of the best historical floats of the parade.  

Following came a carriage in which rode Mrs. Stonewall Jackson, Mr. D. A. Tompkins, Major J. C. Hemphill and President C. O. Kuester of the Greater Charlotte Club.  

Next came carriages in which rode city officials, Mayor C. A. Bland and Mayor Pro-Tem W. W. Phifer in the first, Aldermen Wilkes and E. W. Thompson, and Mr. Leak Carraway in the second, and Mr. R. O. Alexander and Dr. John R. Irwin in the third.  

The celebration band followed next in line.  

Lakewood Park float was attractively arranged, a large boat surmounting the float, in which sat several young ladies, holding the oars of the boat.  

The Haymakers with a wagon load-down with hay, and carrying members of the order attracted much interest.  

The two military companies, Captains John A. Parker and W. M. Robey, made an important part of the parade. The two companies were represented by 50 to 60 men each, the soldiers wearing the regulation khaki uniforms.  

The Midas Water float, a Roman chariot, was well gotten up.  

The B. P. O. E. came next, an auto float, which was appropriately decorated, bearing the four letters “B. P. O. E.” on either side.  

The General Fire Extinguisher Company’s big truck came next, followed by Ivey’s float, which was one of the most artistically decorated in the parade, attracting much favorable comment. A half dozen young ladies accompanied this float.  

Cottingham’s float, carrying another of the bands here for the celebration, was next in the line of march.  

The local fire department contributed three hose wagons, a steamer and a hose wagon, a dozen girls taking the places of the firemen on the running boards on the truck. The entire feature was well conceived. An automobile carrying a number of the firemen was also included. The new auto truck of the fire department made its first public appearance before the citizens of Charlotte, in this section of the parade.  

The next float was an automobile, advertising the virtues of Hornets’ Nest liniment, with hornets’ nests decorating the sides.  

The K-R-I-T automobile was next in line.  

The Consolidated Tire and Oil Company’s float was well gotten up for the occasion. The Texts Oil Company also entered its large truck, which showed up well in the procession.  

The West Construction Company made quite a hit by putting in line about 100 of its colored employees, all wearing blue jeans, with a score of the company’s wagons in line, and the bosses and superintendents, wearing long dusters, marching at intervals along the way.  

The Charlotte Transfer bus and A. W. Smith’s furniture float followed, and a float entered by the Kuester-Pharr Company followed, loaded with various liens of heavy groceries.  

A huge ox, driven in the parade and setting forth the merits of meats secured from Mosteller & Klouse, attracted the eye of the crowds.  

The Sheppard Drug Company had a float with a spieler on board to tell the public all about the business.  

The baseball float sent a quiver of delight down the spinal columns of the hundreds of fans here for the Twentieth, it announcing one entire week of baseball.  

Efird’s department store adopted the unique plan of putting about 50 small negro boys in line, each carrying a huge vari-colored umbrella with the inscription, “Everybody gets it at Efird’s.” This section of the parade was extremely novel and the little negroes appeared to enjoy the occasion as well as the most interested spectator.  

Manager C. M. Creswell, in an automobile, called to mind the fact that as manager, he has accomplished a difficult task in aiding the work of preparation.  

In addition, there were many automobiles of private citizens in the parade, including that of Mr. W. S. Dorr, all of which contributed to emphasize the fact that Charlotte is an automobile town.  

The Line of March  

The route followed by the parade was from North Tryon to Independence Square, thence out West Trade to Church Street, and down Church to Stonewall, whence the parade turned back into South Tryon and came up Tryon to the square, and then out East Trade to College and up North College to the Auditorium, where the long line began to disband.  

The parade was a great advertisement for Charlotte industrially, and as a historic city, and the various floats and other features were exceedingly well planned, eliciting many expressions of admiration from the crowds who lined the streets and filed every window opening on the line of march. The parade was unusually long, extending for perhaps 20 blocks, and the end had hardly passed Independence Square before the head of the parade was seen approaching from south Tryon Street at Stonewall.  

The parade as the beginning of the week’s official program was great.  

First Flight A Success  

Aviator Thornwell Andrews at 2:30 this afternoon made a beautiful flight from the old fair grounds in his Curtiss bi-plane, rising to a distance of 500 to 600 feet and circling over the southern part of the city.  

The machine made graceful sweeps through the air in spite of a stiff breeze, and was under perfect control of the aviator throughout the flight, which continued for 15 minutes. The flight was witnessed by several thousand people on the grounds and an equal number in the city, the machine being easily visible to all parts of the city, when at its greatest height. Success and taking it as a specimen of the work that the committees have done on the remainder of the program a most entertaining and elaborate week’s festivities may be looked for by Charlotte people and the hundreds of visitors who have come in from distances ranging from 10 to 100 miles to participate in the festivities.  

AEROPLANE IS READY TO FLY  

Mr. Thornwell Andrews, who gives flights on the first three days of the week, had his machine at the old fair grounds early this morning, and was busy all morning getting it in shape for the flights. Mr. Andrews was accompanied by one or two assistants, who assist him in rigging up the machine which he is using here.  

A Curtiss bi-plane is the model which Mr. Andrews uses in his flights.  

The flights which the people attending the Twentieth of May celebration will be treated to, will be by one of the best equipped young aviators in the country. Mr. Andrews’ first flight was scheduled for 2:30 this afternoon, and a crowd numbering four to five thousand was estimated to have gone out to the grounds for the occasion. The flights today, Tuesday and Wednesday, will all be made from the old fair grounds where flights were made during the fair last October. The grounds were selected as being the most convenient in or near the city for the beginning of a flight. The large area of level and clear ground free from all obstructions is required for the most successful flights and this is the most available that is to be had.  

The crowds who came to Charlotte today were placing probably more interest in these flights than in any other single out-of-doors feature of the occasion, and the committee has considered that in securing Mr. Andrews it has gotten one of the best aviators in the country. The fact that Mr. Andrews is a Charlotte boy will lend decided interest to the event, particularly for Charlotte people.  

MANUFACTURERS’ EXPOSITION TO OPEN TUESDAY  

The Manufacturers’ Exposition will be opened Tuesday morning.  

Activity at the Auditorium today is at fever heat and scores of men are engaged in placing exhibits and placing the final touches on the decoration of the building and completing the work of getting everything in readiness for the grand opening.  

The exposition promises to take rank among the leading attractions of the entire week. The building will be open to all comers without charge or admission and the attractions that are offered are of such a nature as that they will be of genuine interest both tot he Charlotte citizen, who wants to learn what his city manufacturers, and to the visitor who wants to know what Charlotte manufacturers can do.  

The arts and crafts department in charge of the ladies will be one of the special nooks in the great building where interest will center. The ladies in charge have gathered together in vast amount of most excellent material for the exposition, and it will be a section of the exposition that will interest both men and women.  

Music throughout the entire week with special programs and concerts at night, will serve to keep the crowds of visitors in a delighted frame of mind.  

The decorations and arrangements of the lower part of the building will carry out a dark color scheme, and in order to bring this out more emphatically the illumination by electric lights will be on all day.  

The formalities attending the opening will be held Tuesday night, through the exposition proper opens Tuesday morning. Mr. A. J. Draper, one of the leading and most progressive manufacturers of Charlotte, will be the speaker of the occasion Tuesday night, others also taking part in the exercises.  

MEMORY OF MECKLENBURG DECLARATION PERPETUATED BY BRONZE TABLET IN ROTUNDA OF THE STATE CAPITOL.  

Special to The Chronicle.  

Raleigh, May 20.-In his address for the unveiling of the tablet to the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence in the rotunda of the State House today, Chief Justice Walter Clark, after reviewing the conditions under which the patriots of Mecklenburg issued their declaration, treated at length the authenticity of this disputed historic document, declaring that its authenticity rests on the positive evidence of the testimony of survivors and the investigation and conclusion reached by the intelligent people of Mecklenburg and upon the decision to the same effect by the authorities of this State and the respectful observance of the day by both for nearly a century. The address was a learned and comprehensive one. Judge Clark presented the tablet to the State on behalf of the ladies of the Mecklenburg Chapter, colonial Dames of America, and the acceptance was by Governor Kitchin, who received it for the state with fitting endorsement. The visiting dames were welcomed early in the exercises by Mrs. A. B. Andrews for the Wake committee, the response being by Miss Violet Alexander for the Mecklenburg committee and other visitors. These ceremonies and the addresses were in the House of Representatives hall. Thereafter, the audience repaired to the rotunda, where there was a most fitting ceremony for the unveiling, which was done by thirteen Colonial Dames as follows: Miss Violet Alexander, Mrs. W. S. Liddell, Mrs. H. A. London, Mrs. John Halliburton, Mrs. Charles C. Hook, Miss Mary Irwin, Mrs. Ralph Van Landingham, Charlotte; Mrs. William J. Martin, Raleigh; Mrs. J. S. Allison, Concord; Mrs. B. L. Prince, Wilmington; Mrs. Robert F. Dalton, Greensboro; Mrs. Hurbert Haywood and Mrs. A. B. Andrews, Raleigh.  

In presiding over the ceremonies today Col. J. Bryon Grimes, Secretary of State, declared that a very great part of the awakening of interest in North Carolina historic activities is due tot he patriotic organizations of the women and that they had gathered today to commemorate what he believed, indeed knew to be, one of the greatest events in American history-the unveiling of a tablet to the memory of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and its Signers.