Back in July of 1925, the City of Niagara Falls celebrated “Old Home Week”, where the “sons and daughters” who may have moved away were invited back to celebrate the 21st anniversary of their birth as a city. The week-long celebration took place from July 13th to the 18th and included many activities, some of which were not that different from those in 2017!
A program from the festivities lists all of the events that took place during the week. On Sunday, citizens were reminded to “start the day right, go to church” where former Pastors would occupy the pulpits of their former churches. In the afternoon, there was a great interdenominational mass service held at Queen Victoria Park that included a massed choir of 250 voices.
The next day saw the official opening of the celebration at City Hall followed by various sporting events such as baseball, lacrosse, football, an international relay race, and a marathon road race. Some of the sporting events featured the “old” sons and daughters versus the new, and many events had an international element with teams participating from Niagara Falls, New York.
Monday events also included the opening of “The Big Harry Lottridge Shows and Amusement Attractions” at Bender Hill and River Road. Newspaper accounts from this time mention that the merry-go-round was a “smooth-running, comfortable affair”. Crowds also marveled over the vaudeville show and the world’s smallest women (a Canadian) who was just 30 inches tall.
I am sure that the highlight of the week was Wednesday’s parade. Front page newspaper headlines announced: “Greatest civic parade in the history of Niagara Falls was the general opinion”. Over two miles of decorated floats took just under an hour to pass by. Many prizes were awarded including a silver cup to Dobbie’s for the best horse and vehicle.