Fourth
Celebration of 1890 Contrasted With Friday’s. . . Mr. R.A. Morrow Remarks on
Differences. . . There Were Few Buggies, No Automobiles and Eight Saloons. . .
Parade Consisted Chiefly of Marshals Who Mostly Rode Mules
Under the leadership of Col. A.M. Crowell, assisted by Messrs.,
R.A. Morrow and T.P. Dillon, Monroe staged a Fourth of July celebration in
1890. Mr. R.A. Morrow called the attention of The Journal to some of the
differences of that celebration and Friday’s.
“We had a crowd,” said Mr. Morrow, “and we thought the event could
never be eclipsed in Monroe but the people attending were not a handful
compared to those here for Friday’s event. “Those who came,” he continued,
“rode in wagons or that then fashionable mode of travel known as the dog cart.
There were few buggies in Monroe that day, no automobiles, and if you had even
mentioned the possibility of a man soaring in the air you would either have
been considered crazy or under the influence of some of the toddy which was
dispensed from eight open saloons.
“These saloons did a rushing business while the merchants had few customers to
serve. I remember that there was a saloon the first door above my store. There
was a front way and a back way and both were crowded. A policeman was kept on
the sidewalk in front of the grog shop to clear a way for passers. The same
conditions existed at seven other saloons in the town.
“Labor was cheap and money hard to get hold of. Last Friday
everyone had money and there were no saloons to throw it away in.
“In 1890 a parade featured the day but it wasn’t much of a parade.
There were a few floats because people had few vehicles suitable to build one
on. Farm products were the chief attraction and a building was rented wherein
the best talk of cotton, the best stalks of corn and other farm products were
displayed. There were whole patches of such displays and they played a
prominent part in the parade. However, the parade consisted mostly of marshals,
most of whom rode mules.”
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