Monday, December 6, 2010
Events When the Liberty Bell Came to Memphis
Posted by Vance Lauderdale on Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 3:32 PM
But in 1904, they sent it all the way from Philadelphia to the St. Louis World's Fair, making various stops along the way so people could admire it. That particular tour didn't include Memphis. Then as now, it seems, we get left out of a lot of things.
In 1915, however, the famous bell was carried about the "Freedom Train" to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, and on its return journey it did indeed make an early-morning stop in Memphis at the old Poplar Street Depot downtown. The date was Saturday, November 20, 1915, if you want to mark it on your calendar. Your Ask Vance calendar, I mean.
My pal Paul Coppock wrote about this day: "Confederate veterans formed the guard of honor. The biggest unit in the parade was formed by 12,000 city school children, almost every one of them carrying a flag. They sang, 'Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean' as they passed the bell."
It's hard to believe that 100,000 people — which would have been just about every man, woman, and child in Memphis back then — would jam downtown to see such a thing, but that's what the newspapers reported. Some in the crowd even demanded to touch the famous bell, and you can imagine how curators would feel about such things today, but anyone who wanted could get close enough to touch it, caress, and do anything short of taking a big gong to it.
Newspapers later proclaimed that some people actually managed to kiss the bell, and "afterwards were seen with a radiant glow on their faces, indicating that one of the ambitions of their lives had been satisfied."
My goodness. I have to confess that I have many ambitions of my life, some of them seemingly unattainable unless I recover my lost fortune, but kissing the Liberty Bell has never been one of them.
In the Lauderdale Library, I turned up an old "real-photo" postcard (shown here) showing the bell in Memphis. What surprised me was how it was carried aboard the train — just left out in the open, mounted on a flatcar with some kind of tiny umbrella over it, but otherwise exposed to the elements and left to catch all sorts of dirt and bugs as it rumbled along the tracks.
I know this photo was taken in Memphis, and not at one of the many other stops along the 1915 tour, because barely visible at the bottom of the picture is a schoolchild carrying a huge banner reading "Maury." Readers today may not remember it, but the magnificent old building that stood at 272 North Bellevue was one of our city's most distinctive schools, built in an overblown Beaux Arts style. In fact, we copied that style for the northwest wing of the Lauderdale Mansion — the only part of our home not presently covered in vinyl siding.
But times changed, busing took away most of Maury's students, and the wonderful structure was demolished about 15 years ago. The only trace of it is a grassy lot and some crumbling concrete steps.
Regarding the Liberty Bell, despite its rather careless method of transportation, it somehow made its way back to Philadelphia, and has never left home again.
Comments (5)
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Hey Vance, are you the least bit curious about the mystery grave from a quite a few months back?
My friend claims he found it in Calvary. It belongs to a Fireman. I forget the name, but if you want I'll write it down this time and pass it along. I haven't seen it for myself and Jim is known for grandiose stories, but he seemed pretty sure about it and I want to believe him.
That may not be enough to make his claims true, but his story did seem to fit.
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Guess it was a simpler time with simpler ambitions. I wonder how many of todays' schoolchildren can sing "'Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean' "? I suppose this was one of the first Flash Mobs, although I suspect the photo was actually taken just before a "Maury Povich" show, hence the banner. I do agree that such a thing today would cause fleets of curators to swoon in horror, not to mention it would require hundreds of Homeland Security goons to surround it, just in case.
Come to think of it, don't you have the original attached to your doorbell chain at the mansion?
Julie, what "mystery grave" from a few months back? I don't remember anyone telling me about it, but my electroshock treatments have been wreakig havoc on my short-term memory. Yes, tell me more about it. What's so mysterious about it?
Well, I'm too lazy to go back through your blog to find the initial invite to find the "mystery grave," however, you were sent a Poland photo of a grave by some lady that wondered where the grave was located and to whom it belonged.
There were very few clues except for a short stone fence of some sort adorned with concrete balls.
Long story short, you sent me the original photo. And I passed it to a friend much smarter than myself with a longer attention span than my own and obviously yours :)
I think it was maybe "Jeff" that said he saw the ghosts of future baby faces in the flowers surrounding the grave. Which didn't seem to help locate it at all but was quite amusing.
I can email you the original photo if that would help?
Julie, oh THAT grave! Yes, now I remember. You said a friend had located it at Calvary? And it belonged to a fireman? How did he know that? Anyway, please send me the name, so I can track it down and see if it is indeed the same. Many thanks, Vance
