*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian.
“I love a parade; The tramping of feet, I love every beat I hear of a drum. I love a parade; When I hear a band I just wanna stand And cheer as they come!” (1931/1932: Music: Harold Arlen / Lyrics: Ted Koehler)
Folks in Evansville have enjoyed a lot of different parades over the years. Let’s take a look at a few photographs of them, in chronological order.
1893:German Day parade down N. Main St. near Iowa St. German Day was organized by the city’s German elite around 1890 to celebrate German cultural, intellectual, and technological achievements. After the 4th of July, this was the most prominent civic celebration each year until WWI ended it. Germania Maennerchor’s Volksfest is a reminder of those times. RH 033-03401898: Crowds on Main St., around trolley tracks, watching a parade celebrating end of the Spanish-American War. The armistice was signed August 12, 1898. MSS 264-29551909: Local 110 of the Horseshoers Union marched in a Labor Day parade on September 2, 1909. MSS 181-00281917: Nurses in Red Cross parade on Main St., just past the intersection with 2nd St. MSS 288-19921917: Red Cross ambulance in 1917 parade, probably on Court St MSS 288-1985Circa 1917: African American nurses and children marching in World War I parade near old courthouse. They are just going past the Market St. side of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Coliseum, the front of which is at 300 Court St. MSS 288-1964April 7, 1918: “Evansville Boys at Home” in World War I parade on Main St. MSS 288-1965Circa 1918: War Mothers organization on Main St., just past 2nd St. The American War Mothers organization was founded in 1917 to support mothers who had a child enlisted in the military during WWI. This later extended to other wars; the group continues todayalbeit with waning membership. MSS 288-2137April 19, 1919: 5th Liberty Loan campaign parade on Riverside Dr.The Liberty Loan program was created by Secretary of the Treasury and head of the Federal Reserve, William G. McAdoo, to fund the war. MSS 288-1947 September 1920: Labor Day parade on Main St., with Teamsters Local 29 from the Sunnyside Coal Co. MSS 181-03021939: WPA Christmas Parade figures.This is probably taken at the Municipal Market at 813 Pennsylvania St., side entrance at 814 W. Indiana St. (not sure which side shown)WPA was the Works Projects Administration (earlier the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program for the unemployed during the Depression. MSS 264-02641939: crowd watching the WPA Parade. MSS 264-0273September 1958: Float in Warrick County Home Demonstration Club Council parade, showing 102 years of progress, from 1856-1958, with women on the left doing laundry with a washboard and tub near a coal stove, and moving on to Westinghouse appliances. MSS 264-0090MSS 157-0290
The images above and below are both dated August 11, 1962 and are part of a parade celebrating the sesquicentennial of Evansville. Both were photographed on Riverside Dr.
MSS 157-1014Circa 1970: Army troop on parade down Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., just past the intersection with Vine St. MSS 157-2574June 28, 1975: Colonel Sanders sitting on the back of a sports car in Freedom Festival Parade. MSS 034-0041Circa October 1975: Children in Nut Club Fall Festival parade on W. Franklin St., in the 2200 block. The food booths can be seen behind the crowds. Begun in 1921 by a group of West side businessmen calling themselves the Nut Club, the event has evolved to be one of the largest St. festivals in the United States. During the first full week in October, 4 blocks of W. Franklin St. are closed to all but pedestrian traffic. Non-profit organizations have booths that line both sides of the St. and sell all sorts of food. Parades and entertainment are also included. The Nut Club donates its profits to worthy causes in the community, and the non-profits that have booths are able to fund many of their activities due to the monies raised. MSS 181-0658
UASC Collections used:
RH 033, Local Postcards Collection
MSS 034, the Greg Smith Collection
MSS 157, the Schlamp-Meyer Collection
MSS 181, the Darrel Bigham Collection
MSS 264, the Thomas Mueller Collection
MSS 288, the Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science Collection. NOTE: the photographs from this collection chosen for this blog are all credited to Karl K. Knecht (1883-1972), a cartoonist and photographer for the Evansville Courier newspaper from 1906 to 1960.
amUSIngArtifacts 
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