Local parade in 1914, likely Founders’ Day

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I don’t have a lot to say about this historic postcard photo, although the notes on the back of the card—by some individual for whom historians should be thankful—provide a little information of interest. However, there is no mention of what the occasion for the parade was, so that must be deduced . . .

I have seen other photos by W. H. Wilcox dating back to 1900, but I had never run across any information about the man. The notes here about him read: “Port Townsend, Wash. 1914—W. H. Wilcox was the local agent selling Henry Ford’s Model T. (See early-model cars in background of photo.) He came to P.T. at the turn of the century as secretary to the collector of customs. He was also a photographer and very likely took this picture. He moved to Seattle with his P.T. school-teacher bride in 1914, the year this photo was taken. This card belonged to him and was purchased along with other cards in his collection addressed to Wilcox family members.”

The surroundings seem to place this parade in the residential area. If it was captured in April 1914 it would have been well before the 4th of July, so I believe it obviously was the city’s Founders’ Day, settlement of the community having been officially recorded as April 24, 1851.

So there you have it.

MEANWHILE—Quite a number of my earlier blogs, back to 2016 or so, now are available. A fair number of them deal with local history, so have sort of a timeless interest. Here at ptleader.com home page just go down under “blogs” to “Words from a 90-year resident.”

Or send to an interested friend this link:
https://www.ptleader.com/toms-blog/?page_size=12&category_id=582&sub_type=stories%2Cphotos%2Cvideos%2Cspecialsections%2Cprintissues%2Ceeditions%2Cpackages%2Cmagazines%2Cmaps%2Cfeeds%2Cpolls&page=10