As the town prepares for seven months of celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of Jaffrey, former Historical Society President Bruce Hill shared what’s known about previous celebrations, and those that marked them, during a talk at the Jaffrey Civic Center on Thursday,
Hill, along with fellow Historical Society member Rob Stephenson, gave a presentation on the town’s previous four major anniversary celebrations – marking 100, 150, 175 and 200 years – with a slideshow of photographs taken at those events, including those that contain notable Jaffrey people.
While Jaffrey has planned events throughout this year to mark 250 years, its first celebration in 1873 was a single day. Rather than marking the exact founding date of Aug. 17, the celebration was Aug. 20, as Aug. 17 fell on a Sunday.
In addition to celebrations in Jaffrey Center, there was a parade that included a long list of participants, including the Jaffrey Cornet Band and the Peterboro Cavalry, as well as citizens and businesses of the town.
“Who’s watching? Everyone’s in the parade!” Hill joked. “Except probably not, as they put the crowd at about 5,000 people.”
There were many speeches made that day, including one by keynote and native son Joel Parker. Those speeches have been preserved in booklets, some of which are still owned by the Historical Society. Parker’s speech was 41 pages long.
“At an average rate of three minutes per page, that’s about two hours,” Hill said.
The 1923 celebrations were a bit more expansive, taking a week’s worth of events, including a reception at the Meetinghouse, a lyceum, a gymkhana show of equestrian skills, a “Children’s Day” where children took over town offices, including the police force; a baseball game pitting Jaffrey against Winchendon; and a costume ball, for which tickets were 25 cents.
The parade included Jaffrey’s first-ever fire apparatus, a hand pump that is still in the town’s possession today.
In 1948, the two-day celebration included a tea, reception, Amos Fortune forum, a water carnival, dances and the now-traditional anniversary parade, photos of which have begun to include some of Jaffrey’s longest-standing businesses, including Elie Belletete’s general store, which would eventually become Belletetes, still run by the Belletete family and one of the sponsors of this year’s anniversary; and D.D. Bean & Sons.
In 1973, similar to plans for this year, the town held events from January through August. But despite more events, and the recency of the anniversary, Hill said the town has only sparse photos in its collection. Among those photos is the crowning of Jaffrey native and artist Jeanne Duval as the Bicentennial Queen at the firemen’s ball and several photos of the anniversary parade, which featured a carriage pulled by the famous Budweiser Clydesdales.
For information about upcoming Jaffrey 250 anniversary events, visit jaffrey250.com. In addition to individual events throughout the year, there are several ongoing anniversary projects in which residents can participate. Those climbing Mount Monadnock are asked to take a photo with a Jaffrey anniversary sign, available at the state park and Cathedral of the Pines, for a photo collection. The Historical Society is also collecting photographs of multigenerational graduates of Conant High School.
The next talk in the Jaffrey Historical Society series will be given by Peter Lambert on Amos Fortune, a prominent Jaffrey citizen and former slave who settled in Jaffrey at the age of 60 to open a leather-tanning business after purchasing his freedom. The talk is scheduled for Feb. 23.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.