by Barbara Rimkunas
This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, August 13, 2021.
During the night of July 3rd and 4th, 1914, the main building of Phillips Exeter Academy burned. The school’s newly hired principal, Lewis Perry, quickly arrived to look over the rubble and oversee plans to rebuild. The trauma of the event, on what should have been a celebratory holiday weekend, combined with news of war in Europe and Exeter’s flagging population (just under 5,000 residents in the 1910 census – fewer than in 1900) diminished an already sagging economic outlook. Was there a way to pull the town out of its existential doldrums?
Exeter’s Business Men’s Association came up with a possible solution. They proposed a gala Trade and Carnival Week building on the Old Home Days celebrations of previous decades. But where Old Home Days highlighted nostalgic visions of Exeter’s past, the new event would showcase the excitement of a new century. Gone were the days when smallpox stalked the land. Electricity had arrived to light up dark nights. Transportation moved people and goods with greater efficiency. When the event was formally announced on July 17th, its purpose was “of stimulating business in the town and drawing trade from surrounding towns, also to give and show appreciation to our home trade and customers.” In short, it was a celebration of capitalism.
Subscriptions were quickly collected by the finance committee and plans were made to hold the event during the first week of August. Then, as now, Exeter can be a pretty quiet place in August. Fancy people took months-long vacations to cooler mountainside resorts. With the recent increase in automobile travel, many folks planned to take road trips. Working people stayed in town, but some of the larger factories often shut down for weeks at a time in the summer due to the heat. The only fun was when a travelling circus might come through town. As news began to grow about the planned event, people altered their summer activities.
“The committees in charge of the Trade and Carnival week are more than delighted with the generous co-operation which has been given them by all the business firms and tradespeople,” announced the Exeter News-Letter. The prospects for a big week are much brighter than anyone had hoped for.” Exeter came alive with preparation. “Many business buildings are already attractively decorated and citizens having flags are asked to display them at their homes. The Exeter and Hampton Electric company has installed hundreds of lights, which assure a beautiful street lighting display. Stands are being erected in the Square, one for band concerts, the other for vaudeville entertainments.”
Things kicked-off on the evening of Monday, August 3rd when the “grand illuminations” were lit. Think of our current Festival of Trees, only in the summer. There was a band concert followed by vaudeville acts: “E.Toli, European heavyweight juggler and balancer” and “Fred and Albert, Wizards of the Air.”
The following day featured a massive Civic and Mercantile parade with so many participants, it’s hard to believe there was anyone still around to watch it. But the crowds were immense. Stepping off at 2pm, there were three divisions described by the News-Letter as, “business floats, fire and military companies, Exeter and Kingston bands, drum corps, carnival menagerie, etc.” Photos of the parade bear this out – many businesses had pictures of their floats made into post cards. The parade took over 30 minutes to pass by. The original route called for the marchers to pivot near the depot on Lincoln Street. “Turning, however, was found impracticable and the return route adopted was through Winter, Park, Cass, Main, Lincoln and Front streets to the Square where the column disbanded,” noted the News-Letter. “Its length was attested by the fact that its rear was still on Front street while the head was passing over the Park Street bridge. To conclude it was most attractive and impressive.”
At the head of the parade, the grand marshall, Harrison Grout rode horseback with his aides. Grout was a local carpenter. They were followed by the Exeter Brass Band and the Third Company Coast Artillery Corps, which would, in a few years, be deployed to Europe. Two carriages carried Exeter’s Civil War veterans, including Freeman Wallace, one of the few people of color still living in town.
Business and civic organization floats were the most popular part of the parade. Lavish decorations highlighted the creations. The Grange float featured a hayrack with its kitchen orchestra drawn by oxen driven by Lester Sanborn. J. Everett Towle, driving for Elmhurst Farm received a $5.00 prize for the “white and golden rod, immaculate neatness” of his float. Charles B. Edgerly, dressed as Uncle Sam, won the “most comical feature” prize. A lone elephant, sponsored by the Exeter Opera House won only the adoration of the crowd.
Wednesday, the concerts and entertainments moved to Lincoln Street for West End Day – a noble move designed to remind west enders that downtown Exeter still courted their business. Athletic events were featured on Thursday – beginning with boat races on the Squamscott. These were followed by swimming events. Foot races were held in the town square. “The very large company gathered about the town hall and the opposite side of Water street for the athletic sports, the woman and girls in summer dress, made a brilliant spectacle.” Looking pretty was the only event that day that was open to women and girls. No boating, swimming or running was allowed for the fairer sex, although a few women had been drivers of the slow-moving parade floats the day before.
Thursday brought another parade – this one in honor of motorists. There were still relatively few cars on the roads in 1914. The long line that slowly drove through Exeter (several by women) consisted of 63 vehicles including 3 trucks. Many were names we might recognize today: Buick, Ford, Cadillac. Some only remembered from the past: Studebaker, Hudson, Oakland, Regal, Maxwell and something called Hupmobile. Even Helen Tufts, who’d been vacationing near Casco Bay in Maine, made her way home to Exeter to see the motorist parade. She went down with her cousins and remarked in her diary, “took 6 pictures.”
The final day Exeter hosted visitors from Newmarket, greeting a special train at the depot. The entertainments were repeated and a lively baseball game played. Newmarket soundly defeated their hosts 9-3. The evening concluded with dancing followed by an hour-long fireworks show. Weary carnival goers from Newmarket were provided with a special train to return them home at 11:15. Exeter has rarely thrown such an epic party. It would have to hold them through the next few years of difficulty.
Barbara Rimkunas is curator of the Exeter Historical Society. Support the Exeter Historical Society by becoming a member! Join online at: www.exeterhistory.org
Image: The Squamscott House featured two hefty well-fed patrons for their float entered in the Civic and Mercantile Parade during the August 1914 Trade and Carnival Week.